Old Habits Die Hard
by Mrepic3000
Summary: Soldier 76 has returned to a newly arisen Overwatch; for better or for worse, he has yet to know. Already it becomes interesting when the team discovers an odd being in his first mission. With his views of the world and himself in an all-time low, can this individual help him see the light at the end of the tunnel once again?
1. Chapter 1

Old Habits Die Hard | 1

An Overwatch fanfic

By Yuan Kuizon

When an unwanted soldier sets his views of the world in stone, an outside being just might be the solution to erasing his pessimism.

ooOoo

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hello. While this is the first fanfic I've published online, this isn't the first one I've written. So thus I safely declare that I have some experience in the writing department; do what you want with this information.**

 **Let me stop disturbing you, now. Please proceed to the story.**

ooOoo

Jack Morrison laid a finger on his earpiece. "Alpha, this is Soldier 76."

"This is Winston from Alpha," the gorilla, who was back at HQ, replied. "Got any visual on Tracer?"

From within the alleyway, Jack looked up to the expanse between the roof of each building he was in-between. A second later, a blue tracer zipped from one roof to the other.

"Tracer is safe," Jack replied. "She's still sweeping up the roofs."

"Affirmative, Soldier," came the response from Winston. "By the way, is this an okay strategy? I was wondering if-"

"You're the leader of this team," Jack cut in sharply. "You should make sure you know what you're doing."

Silence came from the other end of the line. Jack pressed against the building wall, keeping still as he waited for an answer.

"... Proceed with caution, 76," Winston said. Jack noticed a part of his voice was subdued. "You're nearing the target."

"Affirmative." With a tap of a finger, the comm was off. Crouching to the ground, Jack was off, sprinting to the next space between buildings- all the while getting closer to the objective.

As he ran, Jack felt a wave of nostalgia hit him. He remembered the days when he, Jack Morrison, was the commander of Overwatch. The days when the group under his leadership was revered as the savior of humans and omnics.

 _Too bad that went to shit when they thought we weren't needed anymore,_ Jack thought morosely.

They were wrong, of course. But the dividing opinions within the members of Overwatch made if difficult to envision what the group's next step would be. Then Reyes, his second-in-command, had to be a bastard and started a full-blown rebellion within the base.

 _Then came the explosion, and the world thinks I'm dead_. Jack felt a touch of amusement at that. _Honestly, I prefer them keeping that line of thought._

"You getting that feeling, love?"

Battle-hardened reflexes snapped at him to subdue the unseen owner of that voice, but his recognition of it stopped him from doing so. Relaxing his stance, Jack turned around to see Lena Oxton, a.k.a Tracer. The young Brit was standing innocently whilst giving him a cheeky grin.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, making sure to block out any curiosity in his tone. _She shouldn't be here._

Lena's expression faltered for just a second, and her trademark happy-go-lucky expression bounced back. "You know- Deja vu? Running around and saving the world, just like the old times."

Jack resisted the urge to step back when Lena leaned forward, her smile widening. "That's what you're feeling, right Sir?" she said.

Jack continued to stare at her, but Lena never wilted at his visor-covered gaze. He then turned around and opted to look stoically at the warehouse's front door, which he was actually surprised to find out he already arrived at. "... You're supposed to be on top, sweeping the area for Talon look-outs."

He heard Lena scoff. "I'm already done with that, Sir. You know how quick I can be. There were ten of them, all forming a circle around the warehouse on separate buildings. Couldn't take them out with gunshots, 'cause that would make a lot of noise. So I blinked behind each and every one of 'em, and knocked them in the noggin with my pistols!"

Now she took deep breath, as if taking a whiff at something intoxicatingly sweet. "I got really excited, y'know. Reminded me of the old days, where we would all be kicking ass in our own special way, but working as one. Don't you feel the same way, Sir?"

Jack thought he could've burned a hole through the door by now, what with how much he was leveling his gaze at it. Some part of him really wanted to try thinking back fondly, but it was always suppressed by the memory of how everything ended afterwards.

"... Go back to your duty, Tracer," Jack replied. "I'm sure there's a few you missed, hiding in the shadows. Talon shouldn't be underestimated."

"Jeez, Sir. I handled everything up there, I'm 100% sure!" Lena said exasperatedly. "I wasn't exactly slacking off before the Recall. Have a little more faith in your soldiers, Command-"

Jack whirled around, releasing a snarl that was rose up the moment she uttered that word. "DON'T CALL ME THAT," he growled.

Lena flinched violently, raising her arms as if to shield herself. She cracked an eye open, watching him nervously. "S-sir?..."

Jack released ragged breaths as he tried to square his shoulders comfortably. After a while, he sighed and bent his neck to one side, letting out a _crack._ He turned to the door once again, trying to erase the image of a frightened Tracer in his mind. _She shouldn't be here._

"Go back to your previous vantage point," he said, not letting any emotion seep into his voice. "When I give the signal, you'll break into one of the higher level windows at the warehouse's sides. You'll receive my signal through the comm."

There was silence for a few seconds. Then Lena's voice came behind him; "Yes, Sir..."

Jack made to walk to the door when Lena added, "And for what it's worth... I'm glad you're back with us, Sir."

He could almost imagine Lena directing a sad smile his way, before turning around and blinking to the top of a building, rushing off underneath the moonlit sky.

 _To be continued..._

ooOoo

 **Author's Note:**

 **"What happens to Soldier 76 if I throw in a war-torn veteran of my own creation to disturb his usual day?"**

 **This is the question I wanted answered and thus, used as a foundation to write this fanfic.**

 **Due to the possibly infinite excitement factor of the world of Overwatch and its diverse range of citizens (the heroes, if you didn't know), it was hard for me to get bored with writing this fanfic. And so I have actually finished the entire thing, and I plan to release the chapters in separate groups at different times, to attract as many readers as possible.**

 **Dick move? Probably, but a man's gotta do what's got to be done to gather an audience. The next three chapters will be uploaded tomorrow, and the last ones the day after that. I might put the epilogue a few hours later from the last chapters, though.**

 **So, the possibly eventual reviews and criticisms. Does me already having the fic done mean that receiving those two are worth absolutely nothing? Hell no. Any criticisms you have can help me improve my writing skill and thus become a better writer. It'll also encourage me to write more, probably.**

 **So, on to the reviews and criticisms. Go all out. Say everything that needs to be said; the good, the bad, the ugly, and just about everything you spot that tickled you in a good or bad way. HOWEVER, I know the difference between a valid review and a flame. So if you think that I'll even consider listening to a flurry of pointless insults, think again.**

 **If you want to continue reading more of my story, I appreciate you. If you get discouraged to read it along the way, tell me about it and explain why you are. If you feel good about how my capitalization, grammar, and punctuation are better than 70% of the Overwatch fanfics in this website, please tell and explain why you are.**

 **See you next time. MrEpic3000 out.**


	2. Chapter 2

Old Habits Die Hard | 2

OoOoo

Winston prided himself on many things. Top-tier physicist, a veteran member of the most memorable military strike team, inventor of the chronal accelerator (which saved Lena's life), and so on.

What he wasn't happy about himself right now was being the new leader of Overwatch, with its previous one still in the team.

He couldn't fault Jack Morrison, really. Being the leader of a team that ended a deadly war to only receive hate in the end was surely an unpleasant experience.

 _I think right now is a good time to check on them again._ Winston flipped a switch on the keyboard, and a loading symbol appeared on the large monitor in front of him. When the comm link was established, he leaned to the microphone in front of him. "Soldier 76, what's your status?"

There was no response from the other end, which worried him a little. He was about to ask again when Jack's voice came in; "I'm in position. Tracer is currently moving to her own. I'm about to kick down the front door and check out the warehouse's interior."

There was a hint of fatigue in the soldier's voice, Winston noticed. However, he decided not to comment on it. "Okay, then. Proceed with your plan of action, and God bless."

"Affirmative." There was a loud _thud_ , as if something was kicked down hard. Footsteps were heard, but for the most part silence reigned.

Suddenly multiple gunshots were heard, and Winston felt a knot twist in his stomach when he identified them as some kind of semi-auto rifles. The familiar fire of Jack's pulse rifle responded immediately.

"76?" Winston asked, failing to keel the panic from his voice. "How's your front?"

"Spotted just about ten Talon operatives in front of me," Jack replied. "I'm taking cover behind some crates, although it won't be effective for long."

"Well then, use your pulse grenades!" Winston exclaimed. "That should clear them out, right?"

"Don't panic, Winston!" Jack replied sharply, almost as if snapping. "As a leader, you must not show weakness to those under your command. Have faith in their abilities too- damnit!" More gunfire was heard, and Jack's pulse rifle came to bear when they died down. "As I was saying, I'm a well-trained soldier. Don't worry about me- I know what I'm doing."

Winston gulped, giving a nod despite no one being able to see it. "Got it."

The sounds of guns blazing continued, them either being of the Talon operatives' rifles or Jack's return fire from his more advanced weapon. There was a sound of wood shattering, and a curse was heard from Soldier 76 as his footsteps started pattering rapidly.

Winston cleared his throat before leaning to the microphone, making sure his voice was steady as possible. "What's your status, 76?"

"Got clipped in the shoulder while relocating, but that'll be dealt with later," Jack replied. Winston couldn't help but wonder if a joking tone should be there somewhere. "I might actually consider tossing a pulse grenade, just to get more of their men focused on me."

Winston grunted an affirmative. "Don't forget that satellite inspection device I gave you. Put it somewhere around the building's center, and I'll make you a map of its interior to help you better."

"You know, there's a second floor to this building," Jack replied. "I think I'm gonna put it there, just in case of a third floor. This building looks like it can hold three floors."

Winston nodded. "I'll keep your word on that."

ooOoo

Jack Morrison peeked out from a stack of crates, unloading a full clip of his pulse rifle against a bunch of Talon operatives poking out a corner. He didn't see of their fate as he immediately ducked down, shoved an ammo box into his weapon, and went up again to fire at some men who were lined behind their own stack of crates.

Jack ducked behind cover just as return fire rattled throughout the room. One of the edges of his cover was blown off by a hail of bullets, sending splinters everywhere.

He grunted when the wooden shards collided with his armor, although all bounced off harmlessly. "I might have to throw a pulse bomb, after all."

The opposition's gunfire did not cease as they all opted to fire at the cover itself, taking off healthy chunks by the second. Jack thanked God that he didn't have to breath in all the sawdust that was going around.

 _If I don't do anything table-turning soon, everything's going to shit._ Jack grabbed at his utility belt and pulled out a pulse bomb. With a swift motion, his thumb knocked off the safety, and he stood up against all gunfire to pitch the grenade behind him.

"Asta la vista, cocksuckers." With a heave, Jack tossed the pulse bomb at the opposite end of the hallway. Every Talon operative halted their fire as they took a look at what had rolled to the center of the it group.

One man dropped his gun and jumped back, a mortified expression on his face. "WHAT THE FU-"

There was an explosion, and the entire floor shook as the Talon members' side of the hallway was engulfed in dust. Jack admired his handiwork for a while before slinging his rifle over his shoulder and walking over to them.

When the dust settled, most Talon members Jack spotted were lying on the ground, unmoving. Three, however, were pulling themselves up.

 _You've just made your life more miserable._ Jack sprinted to one of them, pulling his fist back. The man wasn't even able to react when a punch slammed into his face, sending him crashing against the wall and slumping down with a bloody face.

There was a cry behind Jack, and he whirled around to knock away the punch another man sent at him. He gave the Talon member's stomach a kick, and he stumbled backwards. Before the man could recover, Jack reached for his nape and pulled the man's head down to collide with his knee.

 _CRACK_

Just as the man collapsed to the cement floor, Jack grunted when something slammed on his back. There was a resounding scream as he turned around to look at a man holding his bloodied knuckles. Jack whipped out his pulse rifle and batted the man's head, sending him to the ground like the two others.

Jack nodded at his handiwork, then proceeded to turn the corner and encounter a flight of stairs. As he walked to the second floor, he pulled out the mapping device Winston entrusted him with, and upon reaching the top of the stairs he set it on the floor. He pressed the activation button on the device and sprinted off, bringing his pulse rifle to bear.

"Winston, I have secured your device. You can do your thing now." Without waiting for an answer, Jack switched his comm link to a different frequency. "Tracer, break into the topmost level of the building. We'll be sweeping up the warehouse and securing the objective."

ooOoo

Winston pumped a fist in celebration after Jack reported the placement of his device. He gave an affirmative and began working on the satellite imaging.

On the monitor in front of him, a 3D model of the warehouse's interior was beginning to materialize. Once he was sure that an entire map of the interior was created, Winston sent a command to display the map in energy mode.

When Genji had first scouted the warehouse for the team, he had reported that he saw nothing of significance. However, he had told of feeling a disturbance in his inner senses. The ninja described it as "foreign" and "not of this world".

With that information, Winston had built a device that could sense all known energies of the universe in a given area. He had installed a mapping system with it, and thus made the perfect gadget to track down the mysterious object.

What Winston saw in the device's energy mode shocked him to his core.

All known energies of the universe were marked with a particular color by the gadget. Protons were seen as a dull red, and neutrons a dull yellow. Together, they made the blandest of color schemes, and with the fact that they were a very common energy source, they also made the blandest of background colors in the mapping system.

With that said, it was quite easy to notice the very expansive circle of pure black lying in the center of the warehouse's third floor. For the energy device, black meant an unknown or still-unidentified energy, and all that amount of anomalous energy was making Winston nervous.

Winston's nerves were even more frayed when the swirling blue/red/green (thermal colors) shaped mass of Lena dove into the third floor, breaking one of the windows. She began nearing the pseudo black hole, and Winston sprang into action.

"Tracer, this is Winston!" he yelled at his microphone after establishing a link. "I'm warning you, we have no idea what we are dealing with! Please, for the love of God, disengage from the objective!"

Winston was greatly disturbed when Lena did not respond to his message. It quickly morphed into horror as he could only stare at her through the screen, looking at the circular mass of black as an equally black limb reached out from it and grabbed the floor...

 _To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

Old Habits Die Hard | 3

ooOoo

Lena was counting stars as she sat by the edge of a roof, idly swinging her legs to and fro.

She really meant it when she had told Commander Morrison about knocking out all the Talon operatives on the roofs. Sure, there was that one man who was cowering behind a dumpster on a terrace, but that was because she actually shot his rifle once to render him ineffective.

She knocked him out a few minutes later, out of pity for his blood pressure. She knew when to draw the line between amusing and cruel.

Anyway.

With all that said, it truly meant that she had no more business lounging around the top of houses. But that didn't stop the Commander from ordering her back up here and subjecting her to a whole new level of _boredom_.

If there was something Lena hated, it was not being able to talk with anyone. She always found joy in conversing with people, and being ordered not to was practically killing her in a slow fashion.

 _I'd rather be in a gunfight with Widowmaker by now,_ she thought dourly. _Why does Jack have to be so grumpy?_

There was a burst of static, and a voice came from her earpiece. "Tracer, break into the topmost level of the building. We'll be sweeping up the warehouse and securing the objective."

"Alright, boss!" Lena chirped, relieved to finally be doing something else other than flattening her ass on some tiles. She sprang up and blinked to another building, continuing to do so until she reached one side of the warehouse.

Lena fixed her visor, crouching to a sprinting stance as she faced one of the many windows lining the warehouse. In a flash, she blinked to midair just in front of it, falling down in a dive. "I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss..."

Glass shattered as Lena dove right through it, and ended her fall by rolling to her feet in the third floor's surface. In hindsight, she could've just blinked through the window, but she decided that doing so wouldn't warrant enough flair.

Boxes littered the edges of the room, all of them big enough for someone to crouch behind. There were no ceiling lights, the only source of illumination coming from the moonlight filtering through the windows. And in the center of the room...

"Woah..." Lena never saw anything like this before; a large circle dominated the center of the floor, and its area was nothing but a swirling mass of black and purple. Particles of the same color rose out of the vortex-like object, but soon fizzled out of existence. "Is this the objective? Holy cow, this is strange!"

Lena decided to take a closer look, so she stepped forward, and soon approaching the large pool in a steady pace. She stopped when an awful lot of static burst out from her earpiece, causing her to flinch.

"Tra-... is... -ston..." Lena heard Winston speak, but there seemed to be an odd amount of interference. "I... war-... no... -at... are... -ling... please... of... -enga-... -object..."

"I'm sorry, love. I can't seem to speak with you right now." Lena winced as static overtook the comm link, and with a press she deactivated the earpiece. "Damn, is this what great-grandma meant by listening to radios from the 1960s?"

Lena made to move closer to the objective when she saw a chilling sight. From the abyss of ominous purple and obsidian black, an arm covered in what seemed to be red plated armor stretched out, as if grasping for any leverage. It then found purchase on the floor beyond the circle's perimeter, and began clawing at it. Another similar hand joined, and slowly a body emerged from within the vortex.

The being drew a deep breath, and it heaved, pulling its whole body from the swirl of dark colors and rolling onto the floor.

Immediately Tracer whipped out her dual pulse pistols, and she aimed her weapons at the being, which slowly dragged itself up. Soon it was standing with its hands on its knees, its back facing her.

Tracer bit back the shivers when the entity turned around, and almost dropped her pistols in shock when she saw what it was. A boy, looking no older than eighteen years, had his body completely covered in some medieval-looking plate armor that was colored crimson. He had a messy mane of black, and there were hints of facial hair above his lips and on his chin.

His eyes snapped open, and two brown orbs looked at Lena. The boy suddenly stretched his hand open, as if to grab something, but froze when his eyes locked on to her pulse pistols.

"Who in hell are you supposed to be?" Tracer asked, failing to contain her bewildered curiosity. The boy blinked, still staring at her weapons, then at her.

"Oh." His voice was a deep baritone, an odd tone for someone that looked his age. The boy stretched out his arms, but flinched when Lena made to point her pistols at his chest. "Er, I'm sorry if I was interrupting something. I don't mean to intrude, really."

Lena lowered her weapons, giving him a grin. "No worries, love. We were coming for that thing behind you, anyways."

Instantly, she snapped her pistols back to position, just in level with his torso. "But you still haven't answered my question."

The boy flinched at her sudden movement. He sighed and gave a shrug. "Oh, why the hell not. I'm Yu-"

From the crates all around them, men with assault rifles popped out from behind or within. Lena only had time to yell a warning before she and the boy dropped to the floor, a storm of bullets suddenly raging above them.

ooOoo

Jack Morrison was punching a Talon operative to unconsciousness when he heard the sounds of gunfire upstairs.

He cursed under his breath and slammed the butt of his rifle on the man's head, effectively knocking him cold. He sprinted further into the hallway, tapping his earpiece to establish a link with Lena.

"Tracer, are you okay?" Jack asked. Three men turned the corner, and he dove behind a crate as they opened fire with their rifles. "Answer me, damnit!"

He reloaded his pulse rifle before rising from cover, firing a barrage of plasma at his enemies. When he dove back to cover Jack growled when he received no response, and went to call Winston instead.

"Winston, this is Soldier 76." He shoved an ammo box into his pulse rifle and popped out, shooting one of the men down then ducking from return fire. "You've got the map, so tell me what's happening above."

"T-tracer is surrounded and stuck with an unidentified m-man!" Winston's strangled voice yelped in response.

"Sweet Jesus, Winston." Jack reloaded and fired from cover, and another man was shot down. "Don't go apeshit on me."

"The odds aren't looking favorable for them!" Winston bellowed. "You have to hurry!"

Jack wondered why the gorilla said "them", but shrugged it off and replied with a grunt. He stood up and kicked the crate, sending it sliding to the man at high speeds. The Talon soldier yelped as the crate slammed into him, pinning him to the wall. Jack sprinted at him and delivered a mighty swing of his rifle to the man's face, knocking him out.

Turning the corner, Jack came across a staircase, with a door at the end of its flight. With a burst of speed, he dashed up the stairs and shoulder-checked the door, knocking it off its hinges.

He barely had time to register the arc of flame before ducking, its heat rolling over him like a wave.

 _What the?..._ Jack rose to find two Talon men lying on the ground before him, groaning in pain. He looked up to see ahead of them, and he quirked a brow.

Lena had her pulse pistols out, turning from side to side while releasing a hail of plasma. The Talon operatives under her assault dove behind crates, but some were caught by her fire and fell to the ground.

Behind her, a man in plated armor swung a long sword, which released a wave of fire at Talon operatives in the other side of the room. Most ducked under the flames, but the crates they were hiding behind caught fire, forcing them to jump back and fight in the open.

"Oy, Sir!" Lena blinked to the side to evade enemy fire, and she returned the assault by unloading her dual pistols' clips on the Talon soldiers. "Nice to see you join the party. Can you give us a hand, love?"

"Does she call everyone 'love'?" the man asked, amusement in his voice. He then held the broad side of his blade across his body to block the Talon operatives' bullets.

Jack slammed a foot on the each of the Talon operatives lying in front of him, knocking them out. He aimed his pulse rifle at the men focusing on the sword-wielding boy, and unloaded his clip.

The Talon operatives cried out as they were shot down one by one. They weren't even able to react to Jack's flanking fire before they were all lying on the ground, motionless.

Jack heard the familiar sound of Lena blinking, and he turned to see the rest of the Talon operatives falling down. Tracer stood behind them, blowing away the smoke from the tips of her pistols and holstering her weapons.

Lena gave him a cheeky grin. "Well, what do you know. First mission after Recall, and we've accomplished it and got a new ally!"

Jack raised a brow at the last word and turned to the man, who he could now see looked more like a teenager. The boy gave a strained smile and waved a hand at them.

"Yeah, erm. Hi," the boy said. His arms swung from his sides, and it was as if he was trying not to look at them. "Nice meeting you guys. Name's Yuan. How do you do."

"We're doing great!" Lena answered, beaming. "We just came back from a loooong break, is all."

Right after she said that, a loud, creaking moan reverberated from- to Jack's surprise- what appeared to be a purple swirling vortex in the center of the room. With a whoosh, it appeared to collapse on itself, until it was no more.

The boy stared at the spot where the anomalous thing once was. "Oh." A few seconds of awkward silence later, he turned to them and shrugged his shoulders. "So... What's next?"

 _To be continued..._

ooOoo

 **Author's Note:**

 **So, this is where my OC starts to come in. Now, I want to make a possibly big announcement about him;**

 **He's a self-insert.**

 **Now, hear me out before you go through that door with the large EXIT sign above it. I have another announcement to make;**

 **I don't know what the fuss is about self-inserts.**

 **Now, hold on- don't toss my story into the ABANDONED room yet. The reason is because I absolutely have no clue about the situation. Seriously, I'm like a little kid who's entered his first classroom; 100% clueless and naive. So treat this as if you're the teacher and I'm the student; tell me what's so disturbing about self-inserts, because I know as much as a rock does when it comes to the general opinion of self-inserts.**

 **Hell, I don't even know if my OC is a self-insert; he's got all of my qualities besides having been tossed into a few unrealistic situations where he's probably got something I don't have.**

 **All I can ask, really, is that you continue reading on when the next batch of chapters arrive. If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I absolutely HATE Gary Stus- so I can safely say that I've done a good job in avoiding that route with my OC. Hell, he's not even the main focus of the story- it's our lovable grump of an old soldier (and dad figure?), Soldier 76.**

 **Anyway, see you next time. Criticisms (not flames) are appreciated. MrEpic3000 out.**


	4. Chapter 4

Old Habits Die Hard | 4

 **Author's Note:**

 **Due to some highly distressing circumstances, I have decided to post chapters 4-6 in an earlier time.**

 **If you're enjoying this story, then yay for you. To the poor author who thought he could catch more attention, too bad for him.**

 **Anyway, it's review reviewing time. Or more specifically, GotTheMovesLikeYaegar's answer to my inquiry about self-inserts.**

 **First of all, thanks for answering me on that one. I appreciate ya. And I could see how awkward, boring, and repetitive SI stories are. I think I've even read some myself in the past, and so I want to stay clear from them. So when it comes to my story, you're in luck- the main focus of this fic is on Soldier 76's current feelings, which are honestly a warped mess of bitterness and sorrow. That's where my OC comes in- to hopefully repair some of the damage that's been done to Soldier's mentality. My only bad news for you is that there are plenty of points in this story that are taken in the place of my OC's PoV, such as this chapter- which clears some things about my OC. I hope you can look past that and see to Old Habits Die Hard's conclusion, which focuses extensively on how S76's mind has changed- or is changing.**

ooOoo

Winston tapped Yuan's knee with a hammer. The boy jumped as the leg swung forward.

"Jeez, man," Yuan said. "I would've thought there'd be more force, what with you being a gorilla."

"I've controlled my strength for a long time," Winston huffed. "It goes with having to live amongst humans."

Yuan hummed an affirmative. Winston went to tap his other knee.

It had been a very odd first mission, Winston considered. While they weren't able to secure the objective, what with it being a black hole on the floor, they were able to retrieve an entity coming from said hole. That entity was currently sitting on the steel table before him, humming a little tune to himself.

When Lena and Jack were returning via dropship, they had brought the boy along with them. They had been pestering him with questions the entire ride to HQ, and Yuan had said that he preferred they would hold the interrogation in a more comfortable place.

Winston wasn't sure if the medical wing of HQ was a comfortable place for Yuan. He didn't have time to think about that when he had dragged the boy here for examination. At least Lena had graced Yuan with some spare clothes of hers; they had found out that she was just an inch taller than him.

Yuan sniffed. "Y'know, this thing I'm sitting on looks more for something like an intense surgery session."

Winston snorted and grabbed a headset connected to a monitor by some wires, placing it on Yuan's head. "It's supposed to be. It hasn't been used for a long time."

"Uh huh." Yuan grimaced as he adjusted the headset. "Remind me why we're doing this again?"

"To be frank, Yuan," Winston began, creasing his brows. "You're an oddity. It's like the universe doesn't even recognize you're here. You're completely detached from the space balance of this world!"

"Huh," Yuan remarked. "I guess that's another way to interpret inter-dimensional travel."

Winston's brows shot up just as Lena Oxton and Jack Morrison walked into the room. The former had a bounce to her step while the latter gave Yuan a hard look, although it was hard to judge with his mask. _I wonder why he wears it all the time._

"We gave you time to play with the kid, Winston," Jack stated evenly. "Now we want answers."

The boy flinched and muttered something under his breath. "Harsh..."

"Oh hush, Sir," Lena chided to the soldier. She shot a grin at Yuan. "Don't worry about him, love. He's been through tough times- like the rest of us here. Oh! By the way, sorry we didn't introduce ourselves along the way here. I'm Lena Oxton- you can call me Tracer, though- and this is-"

Jack raised a hand, and Lena immediately shut her mouth with a pout.

"Soldier 76." Jack continued to stare at the boy, like a biologist an ant under his magnifying glass.

"I already introduced myself to him," Winston said when Lena gave him a look. He sighed and gestured to a row of seats by a wall. "You two can take a seat if you're going to drill him with questions. I'm done examining him for the most part."

Lena practically dove to a chair while Jack sat down stiffly- as if ready to react when something was amiss.

"Why are you here?" Jack asked, and Yuan made a thoughtful look at the ceiling, making the wires attached to his headset jingle. Lena giggled at the display.

"I... didn't exactly come here intentionally," Yuan answered. "I was with some friends- you don't need to know them- and we were going somewhere to help fix a problem. My boss... made a mistake with the mode of transportation, and I ended up here instead."

"You're being awfully vague, kid," Jack commented bluntly.

Yuan did a salute which made his fingers clang with the headset, and he winced. "I swear that all the information I'm withholding is not harmful to your team, and never will be. I'm just an outsider, promise."

"Oh, oh!" Tracer leaned forward, a beam on her face. "So you're saying that you're some kind of alien? That's what I got from Winston, anyways."

Yuan scratched his head and gave a shrug. "I guess you could say that."

Lena continued to look at him expectantly. Winston had to admit; he was interested to learn more about the boy.

Yuan looked at all before sighing, taking off the headset and dropping it to the steel floor. Winston issued a command to the monitor to save the readings it got.

"I... come from a land of war and strife." He began pacing around, staring at the floor as he seemed to formulate a speech. "There was this big battle, and I was enlisted to join the army. Then I got this."

Yuan opened a hand, and fire bursted from it. Lena gasped in awe while Jack tensed. Winston made sure to observe carefully.

The boy's sword, which was lying on a separate table, was shrouded by flames. Strangely, there was no soot forming on the table. The fire slowly engulfed the blade, inch by inch, until it finally disappeared with a wisp of flame. At the same time, a silhouette of fire was forming in Yuan's grasp, until his sword replaced it.

" _Drakon Korosu,"_ Yuan said, a touch of pride in his voice as gazed at the blade in his hand. "Forged by a mighty being and made of the blood of the War God himself. Bestowed upon me, I lead our army to victory with my sister, and the land has been peaceful since."

"You seem to be too young to wield a mighty weapon such as that," Jack remarked, although he did show interest by leaning forward like Lena.

Yuan smirked. "Yeah, I am young. But the army trusted me with this. I was a general of theirs, after all."

Lena took a sharp breath, covering her mouth as her eyes sparkled. "That's so cool!"

"So you're a well-respected soldier, huh?" Jack reclined back on his seat and strokes his chin, all the while seeming to stare intently at Yuan.

The boy frowned. "Yeah. Something wrong about that?"

Winston creased his brows at Jack, who was now crossing his arms. Lena bit her lip as she looked at the soldier from the corner of her eye. Silence dominated for a few moments.

Jack raised a hand and did a waving motion. "Nothing. Forgot anything I said."

"Oh. Okay." Yuan nodded, relaxing his shoulders. "So anyways, I'm now working for this big team, and our two bosses give us missions that usually involve being a long way from base."

"I'm guessing this is one of those missions?" Winston asked with a raised brow.

The edge of Yuan's lips quirked up. "Perhaps. Maybe. All I know is that I didn't sign up for this. But everything happens for a reason, right?.."

Yuan narrowed his eyes, as if in deep thought. Then he snapped his fingers, and he looked up at each of them. "So! How about you guys tell me your side of the story. What's up with the guns and the badass attires and whatnot."

Jack shook his head and stood up, turning around to walk out of the medical wing. "I'll be taking a walk. There's no need for me to be around when you're all story-telling."

Winston pressed his lips and watched Jack as he went off, concern swirling in his stomach. He caught Lena's eye, who was also looking at Jack with a deep frown. He then turned to Yuan and cleared his throat.

"Alright, then." Winston's eyes were on the ceiling, then he looked down at Lena. "Should we go for the holo-vids?"

Lena shook her head, offering a wide grin. "There's no need for that, love. We'll be fine with your personal story-telling skills!"

Winston huffed when Lena shot a wink at him, causing the girl to burst into a fit of giggles. He shook his head and looked at Yuan, who was watching them with amusement.

"Okay..." Winston relaxed on his spinning chair, sitting straight and puffing his chest forward. "A few years ago, machines grew some sort of sentience, and they rebelled against humanity. The following battle was called the Omnic Crisis, and mankind was teetering on the brink of defeat. That was until the UN formed an organization full of unique and interesting characters, all experts of the battlefield in their own way. And thus Overwatch was born...

 _To be continued..._


	5. Chapter 5

Old Habits Die Hard | 5

ooOoo

It had been two days since Yuan arrived to Overwatch HQ.

It wasn't a bad place, for the most part. It was one of the more technologically advanced places he'd been to, actually. The only things disturbing was all the strewn about objects in the control room, topped off with broken shards of glass covering most of its surface. When he Winston asked about that, the gorilla said he had run into mishaps during the re-assembly of Overwatch.

There was also his room for the mean time; it was full of unfinished metal contraptions and grease was almost everywhere, including the bed- which was actually smaller than him. Lena said the room once belonged to a dwarf, but Yuan wasn't sure that he could buy that story- especially with her giggling the entire conversation.

Currently, he was at the HQ's training room. It was a huge place, akin to something belonging to the Olympics. Weapons were hung along the walls; rifles, pistols, shotguns, and the like. Along with it was a shooting range, filled to the brim with targets.

Yuan was briefly disturbed with how there was nearly nothing in the training room that can be used for melee weapons, but he found a pleasant surprise in the steel dummy in the corner of the room. It was bolted to the floor, and when he ran his hand through it he found that it was rotatable.

He was staring at the dummy when he heard a voice behind him. "If you are worrying about breaking the thing, you shouldn't. It has withstand more force than your sword can possibly create."

Yuan whirled around- the voice didn't belong to anyone he knew in HQ. He found himself face-to-face with a humanoid being covered head to toe in some kind of silvery armor. The glowing green visor on its head was looking at him impassively.

Yuan gripped Drakon tighter. "Who are you supposed to be?"

The metal being dipped its head at him. "My apologies for startling you. I am Genji, a veteran member of Overwatch. I was working with Winston when we were tracking down the object you came from."

Yuan relaxed his posture, breathing a sigh in relief. "Oh. Thank heavens you're not some technologically advanced assassin sent to kill me."

Genji seemed to freeze at what he said, but then the robot started walking around him in a circle, looking at him in every angle.

Yuan raised a brow. "What are you doing?"

"Zen has taught me well in sensing the forces of the world." Genji tilted its head. "You are releasing a very odd energy. It is nothing I have ever felt before."

Yuan shrugged. "Winston detected it too, I think. But really, I'm not feeling anything."

"Are you sure you are not interested to sense what your aura is like?" Genji asked. "It is a very curious sensation, especially when compared to the natural forces of the universe."

Yuan pursed his lips and looked down.

Genji crossed its arms. "Overwatch does not have many in the way of numbers now. You can at least partake in some activities that the few can offer."

Yuan raised his hands in mock defeat. "Alright, alright. You got me. Doing some 'inner peace' stuff might be safer than having Lena teach me how to fly the dropship."

Genji tilted his head, then he shook it. "That girl has always been of the wild sort. It is charming in its own way, don't you think?"

Yuan grinned. "Hell yeah it is."

Genji nodded, and he made a two-fingered hand gesture against his chest. "This afternoon, Yuan. You will see me with my master. Farewell for now."

Smoke bursted around Genji, concealing his body. When the smoke vanished, so did the robot.

Yuan shook his head and turned to the steel dummy, bringing both of his hands to wrap around his sword. "Robot ninja, huh. That's new."

ooOoo

Jack Morrison made himself comfortable in the couch. It was hard, actually- a soldier could never truly let down his guard.

The sight of the battlefield-turned-control room was unnerving, even more so when he was resting within it. For some reason, he had felt a chill run through his spine when Winston had showed the camera footage of his battle with the being called "Reaper".

Winston sat on the floor beside him, not taking a seat on the couch for obvious reasons. He was staring expectantly at the door in front of them, as if there would be a tsunami of bananas coming out from the other side.

"You seem awfully happy, Winston," Jack remarked. The gorilla shot an annoyed look at him.

"As leader of Overwatch, I must keep an optimistic face. My emotions reflect on my members, after all," Winston said.

Jack crossed his legs placed his hands behind his head. "Good to know you're learning. I was worried if you were gonna die from a panic attack in the last mission."

Winston growled, but immediately relaxed his expression when the steel double doors ahead slid open.

An omnic in some kind of monk clothing walked into the room. Jack, for some reason, felt more relaxed and at ease with the omnic's presence.

"Hello there!" Winston said with a smile. "You must be the one Genji talked about. He said you were interested in joining Overwatch."

"Greetings." The omnic clasped his hands together and bowed. His voice was of a serene quality, one that Jack wouldn't mind listening to all day. "I am Zenyatta. Indeed I am the one Genji spoke of. My apprentice can never go anywhere without prattling off about me."

"Apologies, Master Zen." Jack nearly jumped at the voice behind him. He twisted around to see Genji watching them with crossed arms. "Perhaps next time I shall try not to flatter you as much."

Zenyatta shook his head. "You know very well what I am talking about, student." After a while, he gave Winston a look, as if expecting something.

Winston stared back with a blank face until he shook his head, red ringing his cheeks. "Oh, erm, sorry. I see you already know Genji. I'm Winston, the current leader of Overwatch and the only scientist if the team. The man beside me is Soldier 76- he prefers his identity to be a secret."

Zenyatta nodded at Jack, and he nodded back.

Winston cleared his throat. "Now, Zenyatta. Overwatch is a serious business, and we are currently operating without the knowledge of the government. The PETRAS Act states that any unofficial business must be disbanded immediately, so we are taking a very big risk here. Do you swear to remain loyal to Overwatch from now on, and fight to the bitter end with your new brothers and sisters?"

Zenyatta sighed, bowing his head. "As of right now, the humans and omnics are in disharmony within the Iris, Overwatch or no Overwatch. I find it better to actually fix the rift between us all rather than wait for a full-scale war to happen."

Zenyatta looked up, and despite the lack of expression in his robotic face, Jack knew he meant serious business. "From now on, I will give all my services to Overwatch in able to contribute in every way I can."

Genji laid a fist on his palm and bowed to Zenyatta. "I am glad that you decided to be part of Overwatch, Master Zen," he spoke with barely contained glee in his voice.

Zenyatta made the same gesture. "As I am, apprentice."

Winston gestured to a hallway, a wide grin on his face. "Excellent. Now if you follow me, Zenyatta, I'll show you around the HQ and where you're temporary private quarters will be. I also want you to meet our team's member who isn't present. Her name's Lena, and she's a great friend..."

Soon, the monk and the gorilla were walking deeper into the hallway, their voices becoming more inaudible. Jack realized more by the seconds that he and Genji were the only ones left in the room, and that the ninja had his visor trained on him.

"Greetings, Jack Morrison," Genji said.

Jack snorted, standing up and walking to a hallway opposite to the one Winston and Zenyatta left in. "Jack Morrison died when the original Overwatch HQ collapsed. There's only Soldier 76."

Genji immediately fell into step beside him, shooting a head tilt at him. Jack could picture the curious look Genji's scarred face was giving him. "Has plenty changed for you, Sir?"

"You could say that." Jack made sure to stare straight ahead. _Plenty more than you could understand, kid._

"And is your perception of who you are also different know?" Genji asked.

Jack halted to turn to Genji, who did the same. Red visor met green ones as Jack barely resisted to get into the ninja's face. "So what if it is? You were there when Overwatch fell. You should understand."

Genji sighed. "I understand very much where you come from. Dr. Ziegler, after all, had to make me a new body when my old one was mauled to barely recognizable proportions. It took a long time for me to accept who I now was, but by letting people help me I was able to cope and move on. I only hope that it would be the same for you, Commander."

At the mention of his new body, Jack had inspected up and down Genji's metal-clad form. Pity welled up inside him. _How much of his past self does he still have? If an arm or leg were to be ripped off, would he just need to be fixed and then he could go through his day again?_

Jack tried to penetrate through Genji's visor, to see what emotions the ninja had in his eyes. Then he sighed and turned away.

"I'm sorry, Genji," he said without emotion. "This soldier needs his afternoon jog. I'm going outside."

With that, Jack continued to walk off with a new destination in mind. In said mind, he could also see Genji standing still, watching his form turn a corner and disappear.

 _To be continued..._


	6. Chapter 6

Old Habits Die Hard | 6

ooOoo

After breaking to Lena that he wouldn't be able to join her in flying the dropship around (oh gosh, the pouting), Yuan had been walking around the entire afternoon to search for Genji.

"Told me the time, didn't bother with the place," Yuan grumbled. "Is this what technologically advanced ninjas are like?"

"Perhaps if you had more patience," Genji's voice answers beside him, "you would find what you seek."

Yuan yelped, jumping away from the robot and stifling the urge to draw his sword out. "Sweet jeez crackers, dude! At least tell me you're there before talking to me."

Genji bowed to him. "Apologies, Yuan. How are you doing in your search?"

"You mean my search for whatever meditation session you're taking part in?" Yuan asked flatly. "So far, nothing's come up."

Genji gestured to nearby entrance to a hallway with an arm. "It is this way. Just straight ahead."

"Ohuh?" Yuan peered into the hallway, furrowing his brows. "Didn't know I was right beside it."

"Of course you didn't." Genji walked into it, then continuing deeper into the hallway. "Now follow me."

Yuan did as he was told, grumbling the whole way. "Never signed up for robot ninjas, but here I am now."

After passing through a pair of glass double doors which slid open, Yuan's feet rooted themselves into place when he took in what he had just entered- or rather, where he had stepped out to. "Woahoho _holy shit._ "

They were in a balcony that had mossy cobblestone for a floor, a far cry from the cold, immaculate steel that the entire Overwatch HQ was practically made of. In the distance, grassy hills full of flowers rolled into the horizon, where the setting sun was sinking in, painting the entire land in its dusky orange glow.

Yuan's awe was cut short by the tweeting if birds above him, which he saw were a whole plethora of diverse colors and species, but flying through the land as one feathery rainbow.

"Watch your language, young one," a smooth voice said, and Yuan looked to the tip of the balcony. A robot in baggy orange pants was floating off the floor, its legs crossed over and its hands clasped together. "Your strong choice of words is interfering with my place in the Iris."

"Oh." Yuan blinked as he was still continuing to register the sight. _If there's a robot ninja, then there's a robot monk. Why the hell not._ "Sorry. Hey, are you Genji's master?"

"I am when it comes to the ways of inner peace," the robot replied. "Call me Zenyatta."

He nodded. "Cool name. Mine's Yuan."

Genji stepped forward, clasping his hands and bowing to Zenyatta. "Master Zen," he said. "This young man would like to learn the ways of being one with the Iris."

Zenyatta hummed in response and turned to Yuan. He could almost imagine a curious look on the robot's face. "It is not so simple, connecting with the Iris and sensing everyone within it. Are you dedicated to staying here the rest of the afternoon, looking for your place in the circle of life?"

Yuan stifled a snort at the last part, instead giving the robot a smile. " _Hakuna matata_ ," he said. "Once, I had to lead an army for years to claim victory. That took a lot of dedication."

Genji sighed. "The _Lion King_ was always a fantastical classic. I suppose its charm is shared amongst even other worlds."

This time Yuan released a bark of laughter, but he soon stopped under the scrutiny of Zenyatta's gaze. "Oh, er, sorry."

Zenyatta nodded, then pointed to the space beside him. "Make yourself comfortable, Yuan. You have much to do."

Yuan grunted an affirmative, moving to where Zenyatta gestured and lying down cross-legged.

"Master Zen," Genji spoke, moving to the other side of Zenyatta whilst his green visor was trained on the robot monk. "Let me join you in becoming one with the Iris. It has been so long since the last time I had the chance to relax with you."

"Come then, apprentice." Zenyatta gestured to the floor, and Genji sat down. "I, too, miss having a moment with you like this. Now, let us all clear our minds from the outside sensations, and find our inner peace."

"Don't worry about me," Yuan said when Zenyatta gave him a look. "I've meditated before, so I think I have some experience in finding 'inner peace'. But seriously, is that all that's needed when it comes to being connected to the Iris?"

Zenyatta hummed, a soothing tune to Yuan's ears. "In a world so full of energy as this one, you do not need to look far to be in wonder if what is around."

"Okay, then." Yuan adjusted his position. The cobblestone felt a bit odd with the moss, but it gave him a homey feeling- as if he was part of the land as well. "Let's hope finding my inner peace can make me float like you."

No reply came, and Yuan used the silence to try and meditate, closing his eyes and dulling his senses. Key word is try.

Yuan really meant it when he said he had meditated before. What he didn't tell was that only things he felt during meditation was the numerous itches around his body and the electric fan blowing on his face. Nothing amazing ever did happen on his past expeditions into "inner peace".

Minutes seemed to pass, and Yuan felt just the same as the previous times he meditated. He tried to ignore the itch on his ear, the aching in his butt, and the birds' chorus of tweets from above.

After a while, he felt as if the concept of time was lost on him. It was only him sitting on whatever surface he was on now, and the dark abyss he was within due to closed eyes. _Huh. I don't think I ever went this deep before._

Now it was as if an hour had passed. Yuan ignored it, opting to continue living in a senseless world of black.

ooOoo

 _It snorted smoke as it lurked behind a row of buildings. Beyond them were people, going about in their lax lives._

 _They had no idea everything would change so soon._

 _It raked its claws against a building's brick wall. Claw marks were left from its collateral assault._

 _It breathed out, making whatever plants in the area wilt, smoke rising from them. It grinned as it realized that it was still in top condition._

 _It brought its two front claws on a building's wall, and began clawing its way to the roof. When it reached its destination, it crouched low behind the rooftop, only peeking its head out to spy on the civilians walking the cement road, and those moving around in some kinds of metal carriage._

 _It may be in a foreign land. It may have to depend on some shady-looking humans to find its home. But wherever it would there, there was always the same desire; to terrorize as much as it can._

 _It lunges from the roof, falling to a group of moving metal with its claws outstretched. People screamed upon seeing its form, and they moved aside as it crashed onto a bunch of steel carriages. It wrapped its claws around one of them, then ripped it off the ground, tossing it into the air with whatever passengers it had in there. It drove its curled-up digits into the other contraptions, crushing them and silencing whoever had been screaming within them._

 _It reveled in the people's screams for a moment, solemn with the fact it wasn't capable of laughing in glee. One thing was realized, though; wherever it laid terror, it would always be known as home._

ooOoo

Hours have passed, it seemed. Yuan wasn't bothered, though- he stopped caring some time ago.

If it weren't for the wonderful thing called sleep, he would've deemed this the most peaceful thing he had ever done. Long had the aches and itches in his body go away, replaced by a serenity he could've hold onto until the end of time. Except in this moment, he didn't know how time was flowing. _Is this what meditation is?_

He looked at the darkness around him. Usually, Yuan would fear the blackness of this void, but he knew he was in the confines of his mind. Here, he felt safe. Secure. Comfortable.

Suddenly, color burst from the distant black skies. An aurora of whites, yellows, and pinks wavered through the horizon, like a wave sliding across the shore.

Yuan felt his jaw drop in sheer awe as the colorful spectacle soon encompassed the entire darkness, emanating a serene quality through every fiber of his being. That was the moment when he saw _everything_.

Not everything as in its physical appearance, though. He knew that he was looking at his real body's surroundings; the mossy cobblestone underneath him, the afternoon sky in the horizon, the distant meadows dotted with flowers and trees, and the still form of Zenyatta floating beside him.

But they were all _colorful_. It was an otherworldly sight; within everything Yuan saw, an aurora swirled with shifting colors. Light tones of blue, yellow, red, pink, purple; his eyes are practically doused in a dancing rainbow. The outlines of the objects surrounding him were barely visible, bends and angles in a colorful spectrum.

What amazed him most was the feeling of harmony; the way the colors moved, shifted, and blended with each other just seemed _right._ He had thought it impossible for colors like these to mix with each other so well. _Is this what Zenyatta meant? The feeling of being connected to everything, which were connected to each other?_

Whatever the robot monk said, Yuan was sure of one thing; the Iris was beautiful.

There was something odd, though. Yuan could feel it coursing through his veins, giving them a strange itchy feeling. He frowned; while the sensation wasn't outright negative, it sure wasn't something to dance about, either.

He looked down, and barely restrained himself from jumping when he saw a hand of purest black. Yuan realized that he was forming a corporeal body in this realm, and every inch of it was black, completely devoid of any coloration.

He thought it clashed with the colorful space he was in, and it did. It was as if it was foreign. Out of this world.

 _Oh wait_ , he thought. _That's what I am to this universe. I don't belong here._

Yuan continued to observe the myriad of flowing colors around him, trying to ignore the ominous presence of... well, himself.

It was short lived, as a high-pitched squeal assaulted his physical ears, making him jump and look around frantically.

In the normal colors of the world, Yuan spotted Genji trying to balance himself while Lena had her arms around him, pressing her body against his. _I wonder how it feels to hug metal_. _I imagine it isn't very warm and cuddly._

"Genji!" Lena exclaimed. "It's so wonderful to see you again. How're you doing, love?"

Genji chuckled, a strange sound to Yuan. The robot held Lena's arms and gently pushed her away, gazing at her in a way that was almost fondly. "I'm doing fine, Lena. I have been... recruiting people into the team."

"Oh." An emotion flashed in Lena's eyes, and she placed her hands on her hips while giving Genji a stern look. "Hey, I remember something! Winston just told me that you've been with us since a few days ago. Why didn't you tell me anything, huh?"

Genji tilted his head at her. "I just said it, didn't I? I've been recruiting people." He gestured a hand at Zenyatta. "Such as my master."

"What're you.." Lena left her mouth open as she turned and saw Zenyatta. "Oh! So you're that Master Zen Genji's been talking about for a long time?"

Said robot, who had been watching them, nodded. "My full name is Zenyatta. It is a pleasure to meet another one of my pupil's friends in Overwatch."

Lena stuck her hand out with a grin, and Zenyatta shook it. "It's very nice to meet you too, Zen! Genji really has spoken a lot about you. Name's Lena- Tracer if you're interested in my superhero name."

Genji shook his head, somewhat in an exasperated fashion. "Superhero name?"

Lena shot a raspberry at him. "It's better than assassin identity, anyway."

"Didn't peg you for an assassin, Lena," Yuan said, deciding that was the moment he'd join the conversation.

Lena whirled around, her brows raised as she looked at him. "Yuan? Didn't see you there, love. What're you doing out here?"

Genji sent a nod to his direction. "I had invited him to join Master Zen and I in one of our meditation sessions."

"Oooohhh." Lena smirked at the robot. "Trying to muster a monk army, aren't you, love? Good luck with that; the Fire Nation wiped out most of them."

Genji groaned and shook his head. _Probably at the lame Avatar joke_.

"Actually," Yuan butted in, giving Lena a grin. "I had nothing better to do, so that's why I joined them. Sorry, Lena- I can't risk my life to fly something with the help of an ex-pilot."

"Hey!" Lena pouted. "I did say that I still have my skills, didn't I?"

"You must forgive the boy, Lena," Genji said with a mirthful tone. "After all, you said that you were an ex-pilot. You can't expect someone to have faith in you after you add the ex to your career."

Lena pursed her lips and punched the ninja's arms. "Oh, shut it, ex-human!"

 _Ex-human?_ Yuan raised a brow at Genji. _So he used to be a man, huh..._

He shook his head, remembering to inquire about it later. "Anyways, the meditation was really nice. Awesome, actually. I think I could do this for hours."

"I am glad you appreciated our time together," Zenyatta said, a touch of happiness in his tone. Yuan sent a beam his way.

"Oh, that reminds me." Lena stared at the horizon, where the tips of the sun's silhouette peeked out of the distant hills, sinking by the seconds. "Winston actually sent me here to tell you all that it's dinner time. Ready to taste some good ol' HQ grub, Genji?"

Genji hummed, the sound almost bordering to a chuckle. "You know that I always enjoy a peaceful meal time, Lena. I've gotten tired of shocking restaurants with my presence over the last five years."

Lena barked a laugh, and by some unspoken cue she and and Genji trudged into the sliding doors, back within the hallway. "Tell me about it, love! Let me guess, there was..."

When the two's voices became inaudible, Yuan turned to Zenyatta, who he found was already looking at him.

"If you please," the robot monk began. "Can you tell me in greater detail what the Iris was like?"

Yuan took a deep breath, letting a smile grace his lips. "Lots of colors. It was beautiful. Wouldn't mind staying there for a day and think about life."

Zenyatta nodded. "Again, I would like to thank you for allowing yourself to spend time with my pupil and me."

Yuan waved him off. "It wasn't any biggie. Genji's a cool guy, anyway."

He remembered something that had been said, and couldn't help but frown. "Hey, when Lena called him an ex-human, did she really?.."

"For me, he is still human," Zenyatta said with a forlorn tone. "However, most of his human aspects are now hidden behind his armor. It is actually what's keeping him alive."

"Oh." Yuan pursed his lips. "What happened?"

"I believe that's a story that only Genji has the right of sharing to you," Zenyatta said, and Yuan could imagine a look on his plated face that brooked no argument.

"I understand," he said. After a while, he twisted his body by the waist, groaning at the popping sounds. "So. Damn, did I just realize how much aches and itches I've accumulated during meditation. Is that a common thing?"

Zenyatta gestured to the sliding doors with a hand, and Yuan took it as a cue for them to both walk past it and into the hallway. "I do not think I can relate with that. My body is not graced with the finer aspects of human sensation."

Yuan hummed in reply, nodding. "I suppose that's something I can think of during dinner. Hey, do you robots- erm, omnics- eat or drink?"

They continued their conversation as they both headed for the mess hall. For the most part, Yuan just couldn't wait for dinner. There was never a moment he wasn't hungry in life.

 _To be continued..._

ooOoo

 **Author's Note:**

 **By the way, did I mention that most of this is not mine? That it actually belongs to a company called Blizzard?**

 **GASP. Surprised, aren't you?**

 **... Ugh, there's a reason this is called fanfiction.** **Fan** **. Fiction.**

 **Get ready for the last batch and a half. Epilogue will be uploaded separately. Wink, wink~**

 **As always, reviews (not flames) are appreciated. MrEpic3000 out.**


	7. Chapter 7

Old Habits Die Hard | 7

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Yesterday was an exhausting day, so I wasn't able to upload the chapters. Sorry.**

 **Anyway, here they are. Expect the epilogue to be uploaded a few hours later.**

ooOoo

For Genji, dinner was mostly a simple affair. Lena had been asking him how his life had been in the last five years in more detail, and Winston was interrogating Zenyatta's own in between mouthfuls of peanut butter covered bananas.

"Hey, this is plenty okay for me," Winston said when Genji had given him a look. "I've been living off with this for the past years, so don't go worrying about my health."

Genji's thought had been that Winston was always a sucker for sweets, but he didn't dare express that out loud. Yuan had been scarfing down his food with an animalistic fashion, which made everyone hard pressed to interrupt him.

And finally, there was Jack Morrison. The man who called himself Soldier 76 has been eating away on his plate in the far corner of the table. When Winston and Lena had offered him to sit beside them, Jack gave a mute shake of his head with the excuse, "I need to think about some things. I prefer to do it quietly."

With all honesty, Genji was greatly disturbed with Jack. About just as much as he did with Hanzo, he daresay. The man who had been dining with them (he used the word "with" for lack of a better term) was a far cry of the inspiring Commander that lead Overwatch to victory five years ago. _Has the fall of the team really changed him so much?_

 _I would not let him live like this if I have a say in this_ , Genji had thought as he glanced at Yuan. The boy had been shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes and corn beef into his mouth, and he immediately looked away.

When dinner had ended, everyone had spoke of wrapping up their business before retiring for the night. Winston was working on a project. Zen was to continue his meditating. However, Jack had left the mess hall immediately after finishing his food and giving a quiet thanks.

"I think I'll be hunkering down early," Yuan had said, rising from his chair and walking out the cafeteria. "I'm busted."

Soon after the boy had left, Genji stood to follow after him. Lena, who had been chatting with him the entire time, made to walk after him as well.

"Meal's good, yeah?" Lena quipped with a teasing smirk. "I bet you've been eating here by yourself since the past few days."

"Not really." Genji chuckled. "I had to accompany Master Zen on the way here, so I still had to go about invading restaurants and fast-food chains."

"Of course, love." Lena laughed, a lovable sound that Genji missed after all these years. "Did your master also join you in surprising people in those restaurants?"

"Not really. He had his own source of energy in a sack he brought around with him everywhere." Genji noticed Lena following him into the hallway where Yuan left, and he halted to turn to her. "Look, Lena... I have a matter to deal with."

Lena pursed her lips in thought. "Oh? What's it about?"

Genji mused between divulging her in his reason or not, then he sighed. "It is about Commander Jack."

"Oh. Yeah, he's been acting all gruff since the day he returned to Overwatch. And I have a feeling he doesn't like to be called Commander anymore..." Lena leaned forward, a hopeful glint in her eyes. "Can I help you in that matter, love? I really miss the old Jack."

Genji sighed, giving a shake of his head. "I wish I could say yes, friend. However, this is something that only I can deal with by myself."

"What? Oh come on!" Lena gave a pout. "Are you sure that I can't help in any way? I really want to see the Commander back in his jollier ways."

The look on Tracer's face could have broke the heart of any normal man, but Genji had faced enough horrors to not be affected by the sort.

Genji looked at her silently for a few seconds before he answered. "Perhaps you can have a purpose after I have done what is needed of me. But for now, you must wait."

Lena seemed to physically deflate, her shoulders slumping and her eyes turning to the floor. "Oh. I see," she said with less cheer in her voice.

Now this prompted a reaction from Genji. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and her eyes met his visor when she looked up. "If it makes any difference, Lena... I enjoyed the dinner. It is nice to being something together with family once again."

A smile graced Lena's lips, and some of the light returned in her eyes. She gave a nod, then suddenly lunged forward to wrap her arms arms around him.

"Glad to hear that, love. Alright then, I'll leave you to it." She pulled back and gave him a grin. "Let's hope that you'll be able to fix up Commander Jack, eh?"

Genji smiled, but he doubt that Lena could see it. "Actually, I myself won't be 'fixing up' the good commander's problem... But I know someone who can."

ooOoo

Genji saw his target turn a corner, and he immediately followed after. Yuan was about to enter the old room of Torbjorn when he coughed.

The boy spun around, and upon seeing him grabbed his own chest. "Gah! For fuck's sake, Genji. When will you stop jumping on me like that?"

"I honestly do not know," Genji said, letting a bit of snark enter his voice. Yuan opened his mouth for a retort, but he immediately followed up with a question. "What do you think of Soldier 76?"

Yuan snapped his mouth shut, looking as if taken by surprise. His eyes glanced around as he hummed for a few seconds. "Erm... I like his hair?"

Genji fixed his gaze at the boy, who returned it with a strained smile. "You know what I mean, Yuan."

Yuan pouted, staring back at him for a few seconds. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "The guy's not the most charming person around, definitely. Why're you asking?"

"He... used to be a soldier," he said.

Yuan rolled his eyes. "Duh. It's even in his name."

Genji shook his head. "No, no; a soldier. Someone that everyone looks up to, and is admired for giving his services to everyone. The ideal soldier."

With the way Yuan leaned forward at his words, Genji figured he got his attention. He continued. "Then, a few years ago, people began to hate him. They saw no use for his services. They questioned his value to the world. Then an accident happened, and now most people think he's dead."

He lapsed into silence, giving Yuan an expectant look. _Not that he could see it._

Yuan took a sharp breath, then released it with a gasp. "That's... that's unfortunate."

Genji nodded. "You said that you yourself are a soldier, correct?"

The boy leaned back, almost in a jumping manner. He gave Genji a raised brow. "Yeah?.."

"Then perhaps you can relate to his experiences?" Genji said. "Being someone that everyone looks up to? Someone that is given the burden of servicing the world with his life?"

Yuan narrowed his eyes, as if he was thinking of dark times. With pressed lips, he gave a stiff nod. "Yeah to that, too. Being the leader of an army also added to the pressure. War isn't something simple."

 _Bingo_. Genji stepped forward, keeping his gaze trained on Yuan's. "Then you can talk to him about his problem. You may not know this, but he was a very different man before. He had brighter days."

Yuan looked down, muttering under his breath. It was obvious that he was deep in thought. Then he looked up with creased brows. "I don't even know his problem."

"You should." Genji clasped his shoulder, giving him a hopeful look. "And if you don't, you will. After all, you are both soldiers."

When Yuan didn't answer, he stepped to the boy's side, their bodies facing opposite directions. "He is still awake at this time of the hour. Sleep does not easily come to him; I sense his troubled soul in the Iris. You can expect him at the training room."

Genji made a hand gesture, planting it against his chest. He tapped into the power within him, and he disappeared from the hallway.

ooOoo

Jack Morrison fired a burst of plasma from his rifle, and it struck the bullseye of the distant target. The entire thing snapped back from the blow, sending splinters all around it. He rested the weapon on his shoulder and moved to the next target.

He thought that keeping his aim sharp in the training room relaxed his nerves; before Recall, he was always tense as he walked through streets and alleyways during day and night. Jack believed that no matter where he was, there was always someone who would jump at the chance to stab him on the back.

 _Except here, maybe._ Jack lined a shot on the target and fired, earning the same result as the last one. _But I can't be too sure, can I?_

Images of a certain co-commander flashed in his mind, and Jack immediately banished them with a grunt. He pulled the trigger of his pulse rifle, sending a shot at the next target. The beam of plasma clipped the edge of the target, completely ripping it off.

Jack froze when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. The grip on his weapon tightened. _I don't recall anyone else going to the training room at night except for me._

He whirled around, leveling his rifle at the head of a surprised Yuan. The boy stepped back, and with a burst of fire his hand was wielding his sword.

There was complete silence after, beside the sound coming from the crackles of lingering flame on Yuan's hand. Jack made sure to keep his aim true.

After a while, the sword in Yuan's hand was enveloped in fire, disappearing soon after. The boy raised both of his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Easy there, mate. I didn't come here to fight."

Jack lowered his pulse rifle; now it was aimed on Yuan's chest. "Then what are you here for?"

"Oh! Erm.." With a not-too-honest smile, he pointed at the dummy for melee weapons at the corner of the room. "I came here to practice myself. Realized I was digging too much on the patties, so I thought, 'well, why not?'"

Jack didn't need to be a psychologist to know that the boy wasn't telling the whole truth. However, he was sure that he could react fast enough if something happened; after all, he was the one with the gun.

He turned around, walking to the next target while his senses stayed on overdrive. He only knew Yuan for a few days, and the swordsman hadn't made it clear yet on why he was here.

After shooting down the target, Jack heard metal clashing against metal. He turned around to see Yuan swinging his sword at the dummy, sending it spinning with a heavy slash.

 _He's not exactly swift with that sword, unlike Genji,_ Jack thought as he observed the boy, who was striking at the dummy with a series of fiery swipes. _Obviously, agility is not his strongest suite._

Yuan seemed to notice his staring, as he stopped in his assault on the dummy and turned to him with a thoughtful look. "So how does it feel to eat with half of your face covered up?"

The question was so out of left field that Jack felt his mind come blank for an answer, with him left to give the boy a flat look. "What."

"Sorry, it's just-" Yuan made a series of hand gestures, but to Jack it mostly looked like the boy was flapping his hands around. "- how do you do that? I mean, I can't imagine it to be really comfortable."

Jack took the time to run two fingers across his mask. The mask that hid the face of the man whom the world thought was dead since five years ago. He turned around and brought his rifle to bear on the target. "I work with it. There's bigger things to worry about."

A pull of the trigger, and the target fell to the ground in shards of wood.

"Oh," came the reply of Yuan. Silence fell after that, and Jack took a breath as his shoulders tensed. "You know, you don't protect people because they adore you or stuff like that. You protect them because you want a better world for them, no matter what it takes."

He turned to Yuan, raising his brows at the boy's unreadable face. "You better know what you're talking about. You weren't there when I was taking down criminals before Recall."

"You're right. I wasn't there." Yuan took a deep breath, and a frown touched his lips as he continued to look at him. "Sorry if I offended you. I guess I just wanted to say that you should continue to serve the people even if they think badly of you."

"And what do you think I'm doing?" Jack felt his patience running out rapidly, and he showed his frustration in his voice. "Just tell me what your point is, kid."

Yuan pursed his lips as he stared at him for a few moments. Then he nodded and said, "My point is that you don't have to be afraid to be the face of the team when push comes to shove."

 _How did he?_.. Jack growled, hiding it when he turned around to face the next target. "That was the case before. But right now, if I make myself out to be of higher value than the others, I'll just be a figurehead. There's no purpose for me in the higher ranks anymore."

"Keep telling yourself that, bud. It won't make a difference anyways." Jack heard the boy take a few steps closer, and presumed he was now only a few feet away. "In the end, there's going to be a time where you'll be leading this rowdy bunch to victory again."

Jack looked down, tightening his hold on his pulse rifle. "What makes you so sure of that?"

"I can see that you're a guy who'll smack restrictions in the face when it comes down to it." A few more steps, and Yuan was by his side. "You're not going to risk the severity of a situation for the sake of your beliefs."

Jack couldn't think of an answer to that. He tensed his shoulders when Yuan placed a hand on one of them.

"Don't run away from who you are," Yuan said slowly, as if he was trudging on thin ice. Which was true. "Because one day, people are going to need that soldier."

The boy's hand left him, and so did his presence in the training room. Jack could only stare at the target, a storm of thoughts preventing him from taking the shot.

ooOoo

 **Atlas News**

BREAKING NEWS: LIVE

This just in; at King's Row, Europe, reports of an anonymous machine-like beast terrorizing the town have been confirmed, with the attack occurring just half an hour ago at 1:30 in the morning. Civilians have been properly evacuated, and King's Row has been put in quarantine until the British army arrives to the scene.

So far, casualties are 57 dead, 120 injured rescued, and 45 whose fates are unknown as of yet. Collateral damage has been estimated at 478,000,000 pounds.

This is Anna Kellington, live from Atlas News.

 _To be continued..._


	8. Chapter 8

Old Habits Die Hard | 8

ooOoo

"So what's got you worked up, love?" Lena asked when all the Overwatch members gathered inside the control room.

 _Beside Zenyatta_ , Winston thought. _I gotta give him a comm to keep him updated._

"This better be important, Winston," Jack said. Strangely, his voice was empty of the expected irritation. Even his stance was subdued. "It's two o' six in the morning."

Winston realized that he had been staring at the empty holo-screen for the past few seconds, and he shook his head. He typed in a command on the keyboard, and the news channel popped up. "This is what's important."

Lena gasped, and all was silent as everyone watched the live broadcast. It showed a line of buildings in King's Row, and most of them appeared to be in ruin and burning. A great cloud of black smoke was collecting above all of it, and a chilling sight could be seen within it; a silhouette of a large dragon-like beast with eyes red like burning charcoal. There was a reverberating roar, and then the figure sank deeper into the cloud, disappearing.

"This is greatly unnerving," Genji spoke for the first time. "It even appears similar to my dragon."

"You think this is the work of Talon?" Jack asked stiffly, his hands clenched by his sides as he watched the screen.

Winston looked on as men in regular police attire were firing into the haze of blackness. Then a car flew out of the smoke and crashed into them, prompting whoever the cameraman was to turn tail and bolt, along with closing the broadcast. Lena's sharp intake of breath could be heard as static overtook the screen.

"I'm not sure," Winston finally answered, turning around to give them a grim look. He then narrowed his eyes and straightened his back, his body rising a bit. "But what I do know is that we're Overwatch. For now, we may be small- but that doesn't mean we should just stand by as the world is being terrorized. Talon or not, we must do something about this."

They all shared a look with one another, and Winston caught Jack give an approving nod. He felt a small smile reach his lips.

"Then we must get going as soon as possible," Genji said, and he tilted his head at a hallway. "Should I get Master Zen?"

Winston shook his head. "We'll let him off for this one; he might like to watch how we operate when I wake him up later."

Lena pursed her lips. "And what about Yuan?"

Winston narrowed his eyes in thought, then he shook his head with a sigh. "He's not an Overwatch agent. We shouldn't bother him with this."

Jack made a sound akin to a mix of a growl and sigh. "You better be damned sure that we're enough, Winston. I don't want to die on my second mission after Recall."

ooOoo

He couldn't sleep. That's what Yuan had been telling himself since over a few hours ago, or so he thought.

This day was definitely the most bizarre one he had in this world. Hell, he would even consider this crazier than the one where he was spat out by Master Hand's portal and greeted with gunfire from multiple angles.

In actuality, he wasn't sure which was crazier. He had experienced too much to be an accurate judge.

First thing's first; his first meeting with Genji. While he didn't exactly get positive vibes around the cyborg at first, Yuan couldn't help but feel that there was something about the ninja- something that pulled him into accepting Genji's offer. _I still don't know what the heck it is, but I'm not gonna complain._

Then there was lunch. Despite it being a good time as always, it wasn't something to talk about. _Lunch is great, though. No matter what universe I go to._

Next was the meditation. Good lord it was so _good_. It was like he entered a world of wonder just by closing his eyes. Despite calculating that he had been in the prismatic realm for three hours (a result of him not being able to sleep), he actually didn't find it time-consuming. _Hell, I wouldn't mind if I was gone like that for a day_.

Then there was dinner and the talk with Jack. The former was a dull event (though he wouldn't express that out loud), for the food wasn't good at that time. The latter... it was a very tense experience. He almost didn't want to think about. _Jack looked like he was gonna blow my brains off_.

However, the talk made him more empathic with how Jack was like, especially when Genji told him how he happened to be like that. He couldn't help wonder how their next meeting would be like, though. _I don't do well with awkward stuff_.

Yuan checked his watch. It read 2:08AM. Approximately six hours after he decided to bunk in. _I'm wasting my life_.

He sat up from the short bed he was on. _I wonder what it's like to meditate again_. He had done the act with Zenyatta and Genji, but he was curious if he could do it by himself. _And I might actually make use of my time._

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes in preparation for doing what had been itching him for hours ago. He sat still on the bed; no crazy posture, hand gestures, or stances- just his ass settled comfortably on the mattress.

A few minutes passed, and Yuan resisted his growing impatience. More time passed as he cleared himself of his senses, then finally, the Iris showed itself.

The vibrant colors assaulted his eyes, but instead of paining him, it made him feel soothed. His body showed once again the blackness of its matter, its foreign presence to the world, but he discarded the oddness in light of the surrounding serenity.

At least, he tried to. An oppressing presence pushed its way into his mind, and his chest twisted at its unnerving feeling. _This feels alien to this universe, too; however, it isn't me._

Suddenly, memories of long past began to make themselves known in his mind. Their contents almost made him scream in horror.

 _A village of burning wreck and bloodied soil..._

 _A mountain of mauled corpses, all belonging to his own men..._

 _A great, metal form flying overhead, laying waste to dozens of soldiers at a time with its unnatural fire..._

 _A bulky, monstrous machine wrestling with a sleek, red dragon, the both of them crashing into multiple houses..._

 _A creaking roar as he impaled Greenie into its hide of steel..._

Yuan barely stopped himself from tumbling off the bed when he heard the loud thud of footsteps moving away from beyond the door. He realized that the surroundings were back to their normal colors, blanketed by the darkness of night.

He looked to his suit of armor, which was hung on a wall. Then to his sword, its red form lying on top of a desk.

"Shit." Yuan jumped off the bed, pulling off his shirt (it was actually Lena's, but that was awkward to think about) and rushing to his warrior garb. _I need to get going._ _ **Now**_ _._

ooOoo

The dropship began humming to life, which Jack knew meant Lena had activated it. The ex-pilot herself jumped out of the aircraft's cargo room, directing a grin and thumbs-up at Winston.

"All systems are ready to go, Captain!" Lena chirped. "We are ready for take off."

Winston nodded, turning to the distant control panel, which Genji was standing behind. "You got that, Genji. Open up the hangar bay!"

The cyborg nodded and typed a few commands on the control panel. Immediately, the large departure door of the hangar bay began sliding open, revealing the dark sky of early morning. Beyond that was a large expanse that dropped to a great lake, with waterfalls from surrounding cliff sides crashing into it.

Winston fixed his glasses and gave each of them a hard look. "Okay, then. Are you all ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, love!" Lena tossed the gorilla a salute, followed by a wink.

Genji walked to her side, giving Winston a bow. "You have my word that I am at my fullest capability."

Winston turned to Jack, arching a brow. He stared back for a few moments before replying, "A soldier is always prepared."

He received a nod from the gorilla, who began moving to the control panel. "Alright then," Winston said. "All of you get in the dropship while I manage the-"

"Wait!" a voice interrupted, and Yuan barged into the hangar bay, stumbling in his fiery red armor with his sword in one hand.

"Yuan?" Lena tilted her head, a questioning look on her face. "Isn't it a bit too early for you to be awake, love?"

"There are exceptions to my lazy sleep schedule." Yuan rose to his full height, a hard glint in his eyes. "I'm coming with you."

Jack raised a brow at that. "What do you mean?"

"Let me guess," the boy began as he tapped his chin. "This doesn't involve a huge metal dragon, does it?"

Winston looked as if he was about to jump back, his eyes as wide as saucers. "How did you know that?"

The boy's eyes flashed as his lips pressed into a thin line. "I felt it." He gave Genji a look. "You did too, right?"

"Its presence rings faintly through my being, now that I am focusing," the ninja said with a nod. "It disturbs me greatly; never have I imagined a contraption to be so full of malice."

Lena shivered, prompting her to hug her sides. "Is it really as bad as the Omnic Crisis?"

"If it's by itself, then I don't think so," Yuan replied as he marched up by the ramp leading to the dropship's loading room. "I'll explain on the way. I've actually met this beast before."

"Don't you think you're underprepared?" Jack couldn't help but ask, looking over the boy's sword up and down. "You're not exactly equipped with the most refined of weapons. At least get a gun."

Yuan halted, only a step away from entering the dropship. He turned around to give them a smirk. "Then I'm sorry that you guys have to bring a gun to a sword fight."

Jack furrowed his brows at the response, his eyes following the boy until he had entered the inner depths of the dropship. He turned to the other three, seeing them also wearing different expressions of curiosity.

"Well that happened," Lena remarked after a few seconds.

Winston shook his head with a grunt, looking down to run his eyes over the control panel. "Anyways, I will be operating from HQ. Open up your comm links in order for me to establish a link with you whenever need be."

"Got it, love!" Lena chirped, and she took that as a cue to blink into the dropship. "Wish us luck!" she yelled from within the aircraft.

Genji gave a nod to Winston, then turned to Jack. "Are you ready to go?" the ninja asked.

He responded with a mute nod, and they both began to walk up the ramp.

"I noticed that you haven't been acting yourself today," Genji said casually. "Is something the matter?"

Jack halted, giving the metal floor of the ramp a look. Genji's footsteps beside him paused, and he knew the ninja had stopped as well. "I've been thinking about some things. It's something only I have to deal with; nothing important."

"I see." Genji continued to walk up the ramp, leaving him behind to watch the ninja go in. Jack swore that he saw Genji move with a little more bounce to his step, which was oddly suspicious.

With a sigh, he hoisted his pulse rifle up to chest level and followed after Genji. Once he was within the dropship, he heard Winston's voice as the ramp began pulling up to a close; "Lena, I'll leave it to you to take the wheel. I'll be the one closing the hangar bay after you guys leave. And for God's sake, don't kill yourself out there. I don't know what I'd do if I lost any of you."

 _Yep, just like the old times_ , Jack thought. He let said thought comfort his senses, and he felt a smile tug at his lips behind the mask.

 _To be continued..._

ooOoo

 **Author's Note:**

 **Make sure to have some popcorn and absolutely no desire to sleep. Because, brace yourselves... The Longest Chapter is coming.**

 **Yeah, I'm horrible. Laugh all you want.**

 **As always, criticisms (not flames) are appreciated. MrEpic3000 out.**


	9. Chapter 9

Old Habits Die Hard | 9

 **Author's Note:**

 **This will diverge from canon a bit, but it's just something minor;**

 **Remember the space the crowd was in during the animated short "Alive"? It wasn't really big, what with all the buildings around it.**

 **Now imagine that it was multiple times bigger, like two football fields long and wide. And the space is a circle shape.**

 **Sorry, this is what I had imagined Mondatta's place of assassination looked like. Hopefully it does not impact the story in a significantly negative way.**

ooOoo

Genji kept a hand on his _katana_ as he surveyed the area around him. Beyond him the dropship soared overhead, leaving him where he was dispatched.

If there was one thing that he was thankful of for his metal shell of a body, it's that it filtered the surrounding smoke from entering his lungs. Around him, buildings had collapsed and wreaked of raging fire. Cars were flipped, crushed, and mauled by gigantic claw marks. Genji looked away when he spotted a man lying on the pavement, long dead with his blood pooling around his head.

 _It hasn't been an hour, and this place already looks like a war zone._ Genji laid a finger on his earpiece and said, "HQ, Dropship, this is Genji. The area is clear of any life. Shall I advance?"

"Are you sure there's no one that we can save?" Lena asked, her voice buzzing in the comm. He would by lying if he didn't think she sounded the least distraught.

"There is a corpse of a man on the road, but I am unsure that there's still any hope for him," Genji answered. He received no response from Lena after that.

"Must be one of the forty-five unaccounted," Winston's voice came, and it was as if he was muttering to himself. There was silence for a few seconds before the gorilla spoke once more; "You may advance, Genji. Make sure to check your surroundings; there might be civilians in need of rescue."

"Affirmative, HQ." Genji crouched down, then sprang forward, launching himself several feet in the air towards a building's wall. When he made contact, his hands and feet latched onto the wall. He began to climb up.

He jumped to the building's roof once he was close enough, and he sprinted to the other side, looking around the area below it. There was ruin and wreckage, as expected. However, he noticed a group of men in black vests marching down the road.

Genji pulled back, resisting the urge to hiss. He activated his earpiece. "HQ, Dropship. I've spotted a squadron of black-vested men. There is no indication that they're part of the police force or army. Perhaps they are Talon operatives?"

There was a growl from the comm link. "Talon?" Jack spat. "Are they working with the dragon or something?"

"We can only speculate at this point," Winston interjected slowly, as if he was afraid to provoke Jack further. "However, if they have squadrons roaming around the area for this long without that dragon ripping them apart, then they must have some relationship."

Jack released a string of curses, and Genji had to restrain himself from flinching at the intensity of them. "What're we going to do, then?" the soldier asked after a few moments. "Got any clue, HQ?"

"Our primary objective is to take down that dragon," Winston said firmly. "In case nothing that can be a hindrance happens, we can include the local Talon soldiers in our blacklist."

His response from Jack was a grunt.

"Affirmative, HQ," Genji said, watching the group of Talon soldiers round a corner and disappear from sight. "Shall I scout for more potential Talon squadrons?"

"You have the green light, Genji," Winston said. "Just be careful."

"Of course." Genji sprinted to the building's edge, leaping off and landing on another rooftop. Staying low, he continued his reconnaissance mission.

ooOoo

 _So they took the beast down with nothing but their own monsters and swords._ Jack watched the ruinous landscape from the open drop-off of the dropship, ignoring the wind blowing his hair. _Impressive, considering that their military is a medieval-era army_.

As he thought this, he turned his sights to Yuan, who was watching the burning town with an impassive gaze. From the very beginning that the boy showed up, Jack had been disturbed by his presence. A human being from a completely different dimension? The thought was barely believable, and it helped immensely that Lena reported that he popped out of some portal.

Now the boy unnerved him in more ways than one. The words Yuan said to him in the training room echoed in his mind; a resounding thought that was almost impossible to brush off. At this point, he still felt like an emotionally jumbled mess to the boy's words. _I'm not sure that I can handle leading this team again, even for a while. I'm way past my expiry date, anyway._

He stopped the frustrated growl building up in his throat, and he opted to turn his sight to the floor with deeply furrowed brows.

 _..._ To see an ominous mist of black seeping into the dropship's floor. It was then that he really growled and spun around to face Yuan, who gave him a raised brow.

"Keep your guard!" Jack yelled, tightening the grip on his pulse rifle. "Possible hostile enemy has invaded the aircraft!"

Yuan continued to stare at him questioningly until he spotted the inky-black wisps. He looked down at the mist-covered floor, a deep frown growing on his face. "What the?.."

"Hey, I think I've seen this before..." Lena said from the cockpit, watching the blackness with dilated pupils. "Doesn't this come from the Reaper-"

" _Die."_

The form of a black-cloaked man rose from the mist, and the two shotguns he was wielding were each pointed at him and Yuan.

Jack could only yell a warning before he dropped to the floor, a storm of red laser fire immediately raging above him. From the other side of the drop-off, Yuan was shielding his head with his sword as he pressed himself against the floor.

Lena cried out as she shrank behind the pilot's seat, taking cover from the hail of laser blasts. The control panel of the dropship wasn't so lucky, as it exploded into sparks from the red beams burning holes into it.

The dropship tilted to one side, where the open ramp of the drop-off was flapping uselessly. Jack practically dug his fingers into the floor, desperate to stop himself from falling into the town hundreds of feet below.

He growled out a curse as the dropship also began to take a nosedive, descending to the Earth at a rapid pace. Jack would've shot the man in black with his rifle, but his two hands were occupied grabbing for dear life.

Yuan didn't appear to have the same idea; once they were no more than a dozen meters from the rooftops of buildings, the boy lunged from the floor to tackle the cloaked man. Both yelled out as they fell to the town below.

 _Yuan!_ Without stopping to think, Jack released his grip, and he slid across the floor until he fell off the dropship. He was quickly descending to a rooftop, and Jack kept his rifle against his chest as his shoulder slammed into the surface, the rest of his body following in a roll.

He somehow ended up on his feet, and he used his free arms to clutch at his aching sides. He gritted his teeth as he rode out the waves of pain coursing through him. _That was some fall, alright._

He looked up to see the dropship sinking past the buildings beyond, and thoughts of Lena's fate twisted his stomach. He was about to establish a comm link with said person when his earpiece burst into static life.

"Soldier 76, this is Tracer!" Lena's voice said, sounds of screaming wind and emergency sirens in the background. "I've got the dropship working using the back-up controls, but it won't be flying for long. I'll be making an emergency landing on the town square; it's just ahead of me!"

Jack sent a thanks to whoever deity he could think of. "Alright, I'll update the situation to the others. You just focus on achieving a safe landing. Soldier 76 out."

With an "aye!", Lena dismissed the comm link. Jack began to establish a link with Winston, and his brows creased when he couldn't get a signal. "The hell?.."

He continued to try and form a link with Winston, but his earpiece wasn't receiving the smallest bit of signal from HQ. After a while, he picked up the familiar sounds of shotgun blasts. _Damnit. I forgot about Yuan and the Reaper._

He scrambled to the edge of the rooftop, and he looked down to see Yuan and the Reaper on the rooftop of a shorter building. The boy had the flat of his blade trying to cover most of his body as he stumbled back from every shot the latter pumped out from his weapons.

Jack brought his rifle to bear on the Reaper's form, but he froze when he heard multiple footsteps from behind him. He turned around to see a group of men in black vests wielding assault rifles.

With a growl, he sprinted to the side of the rooftop and peeked below, seeing another rooftop. He turned to see the men with rifles running after him, and he jumped off the building.

He landed on the other building's rooftop, and he ran off, occasionally firing at the men following him with his pulse rifle. _Genji didn't tell that there were Talon squadrons on the roofs!_

Bullets began to whiz past him, and Jack leapt off to another rooftop and continued running, hoping to gain some distance between himself and the enemy. There was no suitable cover for him to fight against the Talon operatives, so his only choice was to avoid them altogether. _I also have to lead them away from Yuan. Hopefully the kid's still alive._

There were several cries from behind him, and he turned around to see the Talon soldiers being struck down by a hail of shurikens coming from the side. Once all of them were down, Jack turned to another rooftop to see Genji storing away his shurikens and looking up at him.

The cyborg leapt off the rooftop he was on, landing on his feet in front of him. Genji rose and did a short bow. "Apologies, Soldier 76. I had my hands full with Talon operatives on the rooftop, thus I was not able to update you on my status. How does Tracer fare?"

Jack huffed. "She's doing fine. She made an emergency landing in the town square. I think that was the place where Mondatta was murdered."

Genji froze when he spoke the omnic monk's name, but soon nodded. "I see. For now, I shall deal with Talon. You must assist Yuan against the entity known as Reaper."

 _Shit, I forgot about that_. Jack reloaded his pulse rifle, pulling it up to his chest. "Got it."

With that, he ran off to where he came from, retracing his steps to where he last saw Yuan and the Reaper. As the image of the black-garbed man with the dual shotguns entered his mind, Jack couldn't help but feel a chill running through his spine. _It's like there's something familiar about him.._

ooOoo

Yuan grimaced as another blast of the Reaper's shotguns smacked at his sword, and he barely managed to balance himself from falling off the roof. _This isn't gonna work._

The man in black tossed away his shotguns, to Yuan's confusion. But he took that as an opportunity to level his sword directly at the being, and released a stream of fire.

The flames shot forward like a fiery beam, and engulfed the Reaper in their searing blaze. When Yuan stopped his assault, he noticed a pool of black mist next to where Reaper once stood.

Said entity rose from the inky blackness, two new shotguns in his hands. Yuan gritted his teeth, raising the flat of his blade to block a burst of pellets.

"You know," he said through clenched teeth, "I have a feeling you're not human."

 _"I used to be,"_ the Reaper growled, an oppressing voice coming from behind his skull mask. _"But then the ones you're working with turned me into this.."_

"Wha.." Yuan noticed that the rain of shotgun blasts stopped battering at his sword, and he peeked out of it to find the Reaper gone. That was, until he heard the thuds of two objects hitting the floor behind him. He whipped around to see said entity pointing a new pair of shotguns at him, his last ones lying at his feet.

The Reaper fired with one shotgun, and Yuan barely had time to whip his sword in one hand to block the shot. That one hand wasn't enough to withstand the blow, and his sword was knocked out of his grasp, clattering on the floor a meter away.

Yuan tried to summon it back to his hands, but he froze when he saw two shotguns cocked to his head. A chuckle came from behind the Reaper's mask, and he had to restrain himself from shivering.

 _"Send the Underworld my regards, boy,"_ the man in black said, and Yuan spotted his fingers beginning to pull the trigger on both shotguns.

The Reaper would've been true to his word if he hadn't been suddenly rained down by a storm of blue beams. One of the projectiles clipped him on the shoulder, and the ominous entity growled as he dissolved into inky wisps and dissipated.

Yuan turned around to see Soldier 76 jump off a building's rooftop and land on the one he was on. The masked man swept his gaze around the area, his rifle-like weapon pinned to his chest by two hands.

Yuan sighed in relief, and let his shoulders slump. "Holy shit, man. Thanks for saving me."

Soldier 76 gave him a nod. "I had to lead a couple of Talon grunts away from here, so I wasn't able to come earlier."

Yuan nodded at that, and he retrieved his sword in a burst of flames around his hand. "Understandable. I would've done the same thing."

There was a growl, and he gripped Drakon tighter as wisps of inky black formed behind Soldier 76. "Soldier, behind you!"

Soldier 76 whipped around, backing to his side upon spotting the ominous swirls of black. He leveled his rifle at the mist, his brows creasing deeply.

Yuan felt his breath get stuck stuck in his throat when he heard a low, growling voice from the blackness; _"Morrison..."_

Soldier 76 flinched as if he was struck in the face. Yuan spotted his hands gripping tighter on his weapon as he continued aiming at the mist. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?" the masked man spat.

From the curls of black smoke, the black-garbed form of Reaper rose, his shotguns pointed at them. Yuan grimaced when the being let loose a guttural growl, a sound unlike anything he's heard of.

 _"I am the one you've shoved aside,"_ the Reaper said, slowly walking towards them. Yuan pointed his sword at the man as he and Soldier 76 took a few steps back. _"I am the one you broke. You are blind if you do not know what you did to me..."_

He spotted a bead of sweat rolling down Soldier 76's forehead, who growled in response to Reaper. The rifle-wielding man let loose a round of blue beams from his weapon, which simply passed through Reaper's wispy form.

 _"IF YOU CANNOT SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME, I'LL MAKE YOU FEEL IT,"_ the Reaper snarled, the wisps of black around his body raging like wild fire at his outburst. While he wasn't exactly the most intimidating opponent Yuan had faced, he emanated an aura that made him feel like being covered in cold sweat and his teeth chattering.

With a roar, Reaper unloaded a blast from both his shotguns. Yuan could see the shrapnel nearing in slow motion, and he chastised himself for currently being frozen in fear. He tried to bring up his sword to shield himself, but a part of his mind told him it was too late.

Suddenly, a grey blur landed between them and the Reaper. The metal-clad figure of Genji unsheathed what looked like a katana from his hip, and in incredible speed parried all the pellets from Reaper's shots, sending it back to the dark being.

The Reaper snarled as his shotguns' ammunition pierced into his body, with some ripping through the weapons themselves, which exploded in his hands. The cloaked man howled as he stumbled back, flailing his burning hands to extinguish the flames.

Genji performed a few twists with his katana before sheathing it in his hip. He kept a hand on its hilt as he stared at the Reaper from behind his visor, looking more impassive than any other time Yuan saw his expressionless mask.

"You are outnumbered," Genji spoke, his voice as hard as stone. "It is best that you leave us, Reaper."

The man in black growled, looking as if trying to burn a hole through the ninja with his skull mask's glare. Genji only stared back, still as a statue.

The Reaper turned to Soldier 76, and Yuan flinched at the seemingly intense glare he leveled at the rifle-wielding man. _"I will be back, Morrison..."_

Clutching his shoulder in obvious pain, the Reaper continued to look at Soldier 76, even as he broke down into inky smoke and was swept away by the wind.

Silence arrived. Yuan turned to see Soldier 76 breathing heavily, a sheen of sweat covering his forehead. It was as if he had ran a marathon.

Genji turned around to face them, tilting his head upon spotting Soldier 76. "Is something the matter, Sir? It looks as if you've seen a ghost."

Soldier shook his head, like he was was shaking something off. The masked man straightened his posture and gave Genji a grunt. "Maybe I have. But that's not important right now. Have you been able to connect with HQ?"

Yuan had a feeling that he wasn't telling everything, but his voice brook no argument. Genji seemed to know that as well and instead answered his inquiry; "I have not been able to establish a link. It's as if something is blocking out the signal."

Soldier made a sound between a sigh and a growl. "Could you at least get one with Tracer?"

Genji pressed a finger on the side of his head and held it there for a few seconds. After a while, he dropped his hand and shook his head. "I cannot connect with her either. However, I was able to do it a while ago."

Now Soldier 76 really growled. "What the hell can possibly be messing..."

The sky above them suddenly turned black, as if a great object obstructed their view from it. Yuan looked up, his blood running cold when he saw a huge silvery shape with flapping wings soar ahead of them, flying off to the distance with a creaking, metallic roar.

There was silence for a few seconds before it was broken by Soldier 76. "Shit," he cursed. "I just realized- it's going to the direction where Lena made an emergency landing."

Genji nodded slowly. "The beast would surely not miss an object as great as it flying in its territory before dropping somewhere."

Yuan chewed on his lip, darting his eyes between the ninja and the masked man. "Shouldn't we be doing something by now?"

"Yeah." Soldier 76 looked at the floor for a few moments. He then slung his rifle on his shoulders and gave him and Genji a look that could be interpreted as a hard one. "Alright, listen up. Yuan and I will be going through the streets; we'll be clearing them up as we head to Tracer. Genji, you'll stay on the rooftops and take care of the Talon grunts there."

Yuan grinned, slinging his own weapon on his shoulders. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan."

Genji nodded, giving Soldier 76 a bow. "I will do my duty. My only hope is that we can reach Tracer in time."

"Good." Soldier 76 turned to Yuan, and he felt something akin to dread twist in his gut. "Yuan, we're taking the stairs on the way down."

His response was to groan and fling his head back. "Oh, come on! That's literally the only bad part about this entire thing."

Unbeknownst to him, Soldier 76 and Genji shared a look, the former shaking his head and muttering something about "teenagers".

ooOoo

"Cheers, love!" Lena said. "You've earned yourself a free ticket to slumberland."

The Talon operative spun around, but it was too late as she whipped him on the head with a pulse pistol. There was a loud _clang_ , and the man dropped to the ground.

Lena rotated fully to inspect her surroundings. An entire group of Talon soldiers were on the ground around her, either having hemorrhage in the head or bleeding out from pulse rounds.

Deeming her survey complete, Lena blinked to the side of the damaged dropship in the midde of King's Row's town square, and leaned against its hull to catch a breath.

Ever since she had made the emergency landing (she also patted herself on the back for not losing her pilot skills all this time), Lena had been trying to find ways to make the dropship fully operational. Despite her faster-than-average speed, she had never been able to find a manual anywhere in the aircraft.

The search for a solution continued a few more minutes until Talon squads had ambushed her position from multiple angles. The town square was a large place, so they had plenty of places to assault her from.

Now Lena had actually found some use for her super speed. Which all concluded to the present time- just her and the dropship, with Talon soldiers slowly dying all over the place.

The killing had unnerved her at first. She hadn't done much damage of this scale ever since the Omnic Crisis. But she had reminded herself continuously that for every Talon operative taken down, more innocent people would be safe and alive.

Lena blinked to the interior of the the dropship, stopping on the pilot seat and making herself comfortable. She reclined against the seat as she stared into the burning world beyond, humming a ditzy tune to herself. _Killing isn't good. But it might just be what it takes to save the greater part of mankind._

A sound tore through the air, rattling the interior of the dropship and making Lena shake on her seat. She blinked in confusion and blinked to just behind the exit ramp, poking her head out to look above.

A huge _thing_ consisting of metallic parts flew past from the sky, momentarily casting a shadow on the dropship and her. Lena sucked back a long gasp and craned her head past the side of the aircraft, spotting the beast landing on all four silvery claws at the top of the slightly collapsed town hall.

Its red eyes flashed as its head turned to her, and Lena pulled back whilst sucking in a breath. Her blood ran cold as she heard the dragon rumble out a growl, and with a flap of its wings it sounded as if it was nearing the dropship.

 _Oh sweet cripes, help me now_. The sounds of the beast flapping closer grew in volume, and Lena sent a prayer to whoever god could hear her now. Staying low to the ground as much as possible, she blinked behind a crumpled car to watch the dropship in the center of the town square.

Peeking out from the hunk of broken metal, Lena spotted the terrifying beast of metal looming over the dropship, its crimson eyes looking down on it with a sense of curiosity. The dragon placed a claw on its roof, the aircraft groaning from the pressure.

 _Oh, no,_ Lena thought as she pursed her lips. _I can't risk it harming the dropship!_

Without stopping to think, she rose and put two fingers in her mouth, and whistled as loud as she could. _Fucking cripes, I've done it now, didn't I?_

The metallic dragon snapped its head to her, but Lena had already blinked into the building behind her, continuing to blink up the stairs until she reached the highest floor. From there she ran up to the rooftop and and stood over its edge, looking over the beast.

"Oi, over here!" she yelled as she waved her arms as far as she can. "Think you can take a bite out of me, love?"

From multiple stories below, the dragon craned its long neck up to look at her. Lena was able to catch her reflection in its red eyes before they flashed with a lethal intensity. The beast roared, and with an unfurling of its wings leapt up after her.

Lena blinked back by a few meters, keeping a hand on a pouch of pulse bombs strapped to her hip. _Let's pray that I can make the shot..._

Soon the air around her grew heavy, and the silvery beast rose into view, smoke wafting out its nostrils as it watched her with a murderous glint in its eyes. The dragon reached forward, opening its maw to let loose a roar as it did so.

 _Wait for it... NOW!_ Lena cocked her hand back and tossed an armed pulse grenade at its open jaws. Immediately after she blinked all the way down the building and to the other side of the town square, watching from behind another wrecked car.

She stopped just in time to see a huge fiery explosion engulf the dragon's entire head, a sky-piercing shriek coming from the beast as it reared back, shaking its burning head violently. With its eyes shrouded by flames, the silvery dragon flapped off from the town square, colliding with multiple buildings in its midair stumbling.

Lena heaved a sigh of relief, slumping against the car and landing on her bum. She put her head in her hands and chuckled. "Bloody jeepers, I actually did it."

She would've done a victory dance if it were not for the distant gunfire that suddenly rang through the dirty air. Lena kept still as she listened carefully, her mind racing with thoughts.

 _Jack? Genji? Yuan?_ Tracer jumped to her feet, biting her lips as she looked at an alleyway, where the sounds of gunfire were more prominent. It was also the general direction where the beast flew off to.

"Oh for god's sake." Lena blinked to the interior of the dropship, snatching the keys on the control pad. She then blinked out and tapped a button, which shut all entry points of the aircraft and locked them. Storing the keys away, she whipped her pistols out her gauntlets before blinking deeper into King's Row.

 _Don't worry, loves,_ Lena thought. _The cavalry's coming._

ooOoo

Jack pinned himself against a car as bullets whizzed by. He growled, slamming fresh pulse ammo into his rifle and firing back at the Talon soldiers in the other side of the street.

"Y'know, if an edgy ghost man with unlimited shotguns can work for these people," Yuan began as he took cover in another car, "Why can't they get tanks?"

After the boy had spoke, Jack recalled the ominous Reaper, and his even more ominous presence. The way the shady being behaved reminded him of a man he knew a long time ago, and he held back a shudder as he immediately quashed his train of thought.

"Tanks fell out of service a long time ago." After unloading his entire clip, Jack shoved three helix rockets into his rifle and popped out of cover, taking aim on a row of Talon operatives behind a concrete barrier.

He fired, and three high-velocity rockets slammed into enemy cover, engulfing it and them in a bright blue explosion. Jack ducked behind the car and turned to a wide-eyes Yuan. "Bastion units replaced their roles and were better at it in every way. Said machines are most likely not in the possession of Talon, since they were scrapped a few years ago."

"Oh." Yuan rose and pointed his blade at Talon soldiers taking cover behind a car, and unleashed a torrent of flames. The men ducked to avoid the fire, but one unlucky soul was caught in the inferno and ran off screaming to die somewhere else. "Why's that?"

 _A Bastion unit in its sentry form fired away at a group of men in blue armor, ripping through them like wet tissue..._

Jack shook his head as he reloaded his pulse rifle. "You don't want to know."

He hoped that Yuan would drop the subject, and he barely held in a relieved sigh when the boy answered with silence. Jack peeked out of cover to spot the last group of men standing behind the fallen wall of a building.

A Talon operative fell from above in front of them, screaming in pain as a loud _crack_ resounded when he struck the ground. The soldiers jumped back in surprise, even more so when a shuriken followed after to embed the fallen man in the neck.

More shurikens rained down, and they all fell down with cries of pain. Genji dropped to the ground in front of him and Yuan, and rose to give them a nod.

As they both walked out of cover, the cyber ninja spoke. "I have cleared the rooftops of any Talon infestation. There won't be any appearing above us soon."

Jack grunted an affirmative. "Then we'll be moving up. Tracer must be a few ways ahea-"

Genji's hand snapped to the katana on his hip, and he pulled it out to spin around and slash at an unseen object just as a loud gunshot pierced the air. There was a clang of metal, and a long steel bullet clattered on the ground beside the cyborg.

Jack cursed and dove back behind the car. He turned to see Genji and Yuan taking cover at the other one.

"It's a sniper," Jack growled. "Great. Just damn great."

From the side of the vehicle, he poked his head out. He spotted the sharpshooter in one of the still intact buildings, taking position behind an open window at the fifth floor.

"Is this the Widowmaker that Tracer has spoke of?" asked Genji.

He shook his head. "No; just a Talon grunt armed with a sniper rifle."

Jack spotted Yuan pursing his lips. "So how do we get out of this?"

"Unless the bastard has switched to another position, I can light him up with my helix rockets," he answered. "But if he did, I might get shot for nothing.."

An uncomfortable silence fell between the three of them. Jack tried to formulate plans in his mind, but he couldn't wipe away the uncertain look Yuan gave Genji, who stared back with probably the same feeling.

There was a whoop from a certain young woman, and with wide eyes Jack jumped out of cover to see a trace of blue speeding into the building where the sniper was. A second later, said sniper tumbled out the window, screaming until he crashed into the cement road, falling silent with a _crack_.

There was a flash of blue in his vision, and Jack heard an all too familiar giggle beside him. "Were you all stuck in a hard place, loves?" Lena asked with a grin.

"Tracer!" Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, a smile slipping into his face. "Thank the gods you're alive?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Lena replied with a shrug. "Cavalry will always be there, won't it?"

Genji chuckled. "If it was any other way, we'd still be glad that you're well."

Lena snorted, a brow arched at the ninja. "Will you ever have any faith in me, love?"

"Anyways, what matters is that you're alive," Jack cut in, unable to hold back his impatience. "And that's good. But how's the dropship doing."

"Well, isn't it great that Sir 76 is happy for my wellbeing!" Tracer made a salute and tossed it at him. "Dropship is safe and secure, Soldier 76, Sir. A bunch of Talon grunts came for my head, but I held them off just fine!"

Jack nodded. "Anything else that happened?"

Tracer paused, as if looking unsure of something. She ran a hand through her hair and bit her lip. "Well, there was that dragon..."

"The dragon from my world?" Yuan butted in, a look of worry in his face. "What happened?"

A distant roar was the response to his question, and Jack felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. _Oh shit_.

A second after, a building ahead of them exploded into rubble as a large metallic form clawed through it, shrieking bloody murder. Soot covered the beast's smoking head, and it eyes were flashing a dangerous red.

Jack couldn't help but let his breath get hitched in throat as the dragon caught sight of them, its eyes narrowing as it snarled out smoke. He couldn't help but feel that the monster's eyes were specifically trained on a certain ex-pilot beside him.

The metal dragon tumbled out of the destroyed building, crashing into another and sending the entire structure collapsing upon it. There was a roar as a claw tore out of the rubble, reaching out to them as if wanting to maul them to death.

"Run!" Jack yelled, keeping the fright out of his voice. All the others turned around, and he took it as a cue to spin to the opposite direction and sprint off, his feet thumping hard on the road.

"Bloody jeepers," Lena cursed. "I'm such a wanker for not telling you that I saw it heading this way!"

"Well, at least you reached us first," Yuan said between huffs as he pumped his legs down the pavement.

The ground trembled as they ran, and Jack glanced behind to see the dragon tumbling into the road, beginning to claw its way towards them with increasing speed.

"Clear off, everybody!" Jack bellowed, and the others moved to the side as he whipped around, shoved three helix rockets into his pulse rifle, and fired.

The explosive projectiles shot at the dragon in high speeds, leaving blue tracers in their paths. They collided with the beast's head, and it roared as an explosion engulfed its head, sending it crashing into the concrete ground.

"Go ahead of me- I'll catch up!" Jack barked at the others, and they continued to run when he stopped to to watch the dragon, his pulse rifle trained on it in case anything happened.

The metal-clad monstrosity thrashed around, clawing at its face while ramming itself against the buildings on the sides. Then it unfurled great wings of metal and lunged forward, only to veer to the side and have its entire body crash into a building. The building on its side that was nearer to Jack crumbled down in dust and rubble as metal parts thrashed within the falling structure, a sure sign that the monster was still giving chase.

With that in mind, he whirled around and continued to dash down the road. He soon came across the other three, who were standing a distance away. They all caught sigh of him at the same time and kept their eyes on him as he neared them.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked once he was a few feet away from, stopping to arch a brow at them. "Why aren't you running?"

Lena pouted and sent a glare at him. "Well, sorry then, love. We were waiting for you because we were worri-"

The ground beneath them was showered upon by a hail of bullets, and they all ducked to avoid the gunfire. Growling, Jack looked ahead to see a group of Talon soldiers on a rooftop, their assault rifles aimed at him and the others. He turned around to see the buildings behind them continue to fall down, which showed that the dragon was still in hot pursuit.

"Damnit!" he swore, bringing his pulse rifle to bear and firing back at the Talon operatives. "We're surrounded!"

"That's just great!" Yuan yelled through the roaring of gunfire and dragon. "What to do now?"

Jack's mind scrambled for battle tactics, and his veteran instincts caught hold of a plan.

"Genji, Tracer," he said, the two snapping to attention upon hearing his voice. "You two get up and distract the dragon. Direct it away from this place. Yuan, you and I will take positions here and fight back at the Talon grunts. When we're done with them, we'll think of a plan to take down the dragon."

The other three shared a look, and soon they all nodded. "Affirmative, Sir," Genji said, and three shurikens shot out of his arms and into his hand. He rose and leapt to a building, climbing it up the moment he made contact.

"Aye aye, Captain!" Lena chirped, giving him a salute. "You can count on us."

In a whiz of blue, she was on top of the building with Genji, and they both began shooting pulse rounds and throwing shurikens at the beast in the other side of the street.

Jack wasn't able to see more as he turned to Yuan and raised a brow. The boy's hands gripped the hilt of his red sword tighter, and he gave a nod.

"Alright then, Soldier 76," Yuan said with a hard look. "Let's do this."

He grunted an affirmative, and looked over to the nearest building, which was a 7/11 store. "We're going there for cover. Who knows if the surrounding cars aren't enough."

"Right." Yuan fired a stream of flame at the Talon soldiers, and they all dove behind the rooftop. "There might be snipers."

Jack nodded in response, and the both of them dashed into the store and took cover behind a shelf of junk food, which was the nearest one to the window panes showing the outside.

In the background, the dragon's roars grew muted and soon drifted off. Jack sighed and reloaded his pulse rifle, peeking out the store to return fire at the Talon operatives.

 _I just hope that Lena and Genji will be okay,_ he thought. Images of the dragon entered his mind, and he suppressed the urge to shudder when he saw the emotionless glint of the monster's crimson eyes, which seemed to only hold a lust for death and destruction.

ooOoo

"Say, Genji," Lena began, blinking to another rooftop as the previous one was rolled over by flames. "How would you rate our situation in terms of our wellbeing?"

The dragon, which was in the air, snapped its jaws shut, ending the stream of flame. It roared and began to fly after her when Genji tossed three shurikens at its head, making it flinch and turn to him.

"I have mastered the art of concentration throughout my years with Master Zen, Tracer," he replied, jumping out of the way just as the beast flew overhead and ripped the part of the roof he was standing on. "But this is too perilous a circumstance for me to be thinking about other matters."

He landed on top of another building, watching as the metal dragon turned around for another charge, a murderous glint in its eyes.

"Pffft." Lena was at his side in a flash of blue, giving him a teasing smirk. "You're just being a killjoy."

The dragon was getting closer, roaring and stretching out a claw towards them. With a huff, Lena blinked to the next building. Genji sighed, bending his knees to leap high, landing on the rooftop opposite to Lena's. The previous rooftop they stood on was promptly ripped to shreds by the dragon, which passed by with a roar of frustration.

Lena laughed and waved off the dragon, as if she had just told a joke. "Sorry, love! Dinner won't be coming for a while."

Genji held back a gasp when bullets rained on Lena's position, with her yelping and blinking away. She appeared at his side a second later, putting a hand over her brows and squinting her eyes at the distance. "What in the?.."

A few rooftops away, a squad of Talon soldiers with assault rifles were looking around frantically, most likely wondering where Lena had gone.

The ex-pilot herself bristled at them, growling through gritted teeth. "Bloody hell! There are more of them wankers around?"

Genji nodded slowly, keeping a hand on his katana as he watched the Talon men point their rifles around. "It appears so. I fear that there might be more lurking around."

Lena groaned, tossing her hands to the air. "Great. As if a murderous robot dragon wasn't enough!"

Her eyes widened suddenly, and with a jump she pointed behind him. "Genji! The dragon!"

Genji hissed, berating himself for not sensing the other threat sooner. He crouched low and looked up at Lena. "Move!"

In a flash of blue, the time-traveling assassin was gone. He sprang to the air, diving to the side as the huge form of the metal beast soared past with a roar, the distance between them almost making him uncomfortable.

Strong winds followed the dragon's flight, and Genji grunted as he tried to resist their push on him. He landed on another building with almost a stumble, sucking in as much air as he can from behind his mask. _That was too close._

A trail of blue stopped beside him, and Lenna popped up with her hands on her knees. "That was some scary stuff, wasn't it, love?"

"Indeed," he replied, and held back a yelp when a bullet glanced off his metal-plated shoulder. More projectiles came rushing past him and Lena, and he brandished his katana to block some that were too close for comfort. "I also think that something should be done with the other party."

Lena, who was shielding her face with her arms, nodded rapidly. "Gee, love. You think?"

Genji hummed, his mind running whilst he parried bullets that came at him and Lena. After a while, he glanced at her and said, "You will handle the Talon part of this problem. I shall continue to catch the dragon's attention."

Lena's eyes flickered to him as she bit her lip. "But what if there are more? The Talon guys, I mean."

"I may pitch in to help you, then," Genji said, and he heaved a heavy sigh. "We can only pray that Soldier 76 and Yuan make it to help us."

"Sounds like a plan, love," Lena said, a small smile gracing her lips. Dual pulse pistols shot out of her gauntlets, and she caught them in her hands and twirled them. "See you later, yeah?"

In a blink, Lena was gone. Genji was watching her blue trail approaching the Talon squad from the side when he felt the hear tickling his metal body, and he leapt back to evade a wave of fire that completely covered the rooftop he was on.

ooOoo

A bullet punched through a bag of potato chips, spilling its contents on the floor beside him. Jack growled, and when the storm of bullets stopped he poked out to unload pulse rounds at the Talon agents. Most ducked behind cover in the rooftop, but a man was clipped in the shoulder and fell forward to tumble off the roof and crash on the top of a car.

"Don't you have any more of those explosives?" Yuan, who was beside him, asked.

Jack grunted, falling back to cover and reloading his pulse rifle as enemy gunfire began to assault them. "I ran out of helix rockets when I blasted the dragon's face. I'm also starting to get low on ammunition."

"Well, shit," Yuan said. A bullet pierced through the shelf next to his head, and he winced as a pack of potato chips fell on his head.

"This cover is getting unstable." Jack rose and bent to a running stance, facing the other end of the room. "We're moving to the next shelf."

More bullets continued to mow down the shelf, and when the gunfire fell to a lull he sprinted to the other shelf that was closest to the shop's entrance. Once he was in cover, he crouched low and turned to Yuan, giving him an expectant look.

"No shit, Sherlock," the boy said with a nod, and he practically dove to his side before more bullets continued to spray the previous cover a second later. Soon the shelf gave a creaking groan, and it fell back to crash on the other shelves behind it, causing a domino effect.

"Damn," Yuan said as he looked at the fallen shelves, and gulped. "Do you think that will happen to this column of cover too? If they manage to mow this down, that is."

Jack fired a barrage of pulse rounds at the Talon operatives. A shot caught one of them right in the chest, and the man cried out as he dropped out of sight. He turned to Yuan suppressed a hiss at his conclusion. "Most likely."

The two of them continued to crouch there, waiting for enemy fire to die down before taking the chance to counter attack.

Yuan looked up at him, uncertainty in his eyes. "What're we gonna do after that?"

Jack could only stare back, then he grunted and pressed his back against the shelf, his rear sliding to the floor as his legs gave out under him.

 _This is a tricky situation_. There were few instances during the Omnic Crisis that had Jack pinned down like this, but he always had the plenty others to count on rescuing him. _Now the only other two in our numbers are too busy playing tag with a giant mechanical dragon._

There was no doubt that the Talon squad would rip their cover to shreds, sooner or later. But having no idea what to do after that was so frustrating the he didn't even bother to reload his pulse rifle and fire back. _If we go out, we run the risk of facing other Talon grunts who are waiting to ambush us. We can just be shot in the head by a sniper and that will be it for us._

Amidst the racing of his mind, Jack could spot Yuan from the corner of his eyes standing up and gripping his sword with both hands. This prompted him to turn to the boy and raise a brow, subconsciously pulling his rifle up at the sight of his stance.

"What're you doing?" he asked, and he had to stop his hand from putting a finger on his rifle's trigger.

"This isn't going to work." Yuan turned to stare at the shelf in front of him, although it seemed like he was looking at something far beyond it. "I have to do something."

"You?" Jack held back a scoff, opting to his narrow his eyes at the boy. "I'm sure that you realize that you're the most challenged member in our party right now, since the only weapon you have is your sword. There's not much you can do out there."

"I have to try." Yuan heaved a sigh and looked down at him with eyes that he felt should not belong to a man as young as him. "Look, I just realized something; it's not Genji and Tracer that need helping- it's us. We're effectively cornered here, anything else we might do can get us killed. It's the other two that will be saving our asses from the ditch we're in, but they can't do that with the damn robo-dragon they're handling."

The boy pulled his sword to his chest, sucking in a deep breath. Yuan's eyes then snapped open, a steel-like quality in then that wasn't previously present. "I must take down the dragon myself."

Jack restrained himself from jumping up in shock. He tilted his head at the boy. "How the hell can you do that? I know that you've beaten the thing before, but you said that it was with the help of your sister and two of your own dragons."

A small smile slipped into Yuan's face. "I'm a creative man. I'll think of something, don't worry."

Jack shook his head, a growl escaping his throat. "This is ridiculous. You can't do this."

"I've seen a lot of things, Soldier," Yuan replied, giving him a grin. "Many times I thought the things I did were impossible, but I was able to do them anyway."

Silence came after that, and Jack could only stare at Yuan, who did the same. Somewhere in his mind, Jack recalled that the boy was also a soldier, and he too had responsibilities to uphold.

Memories of Overwatch flooded his mind, of him leading them with a determination to make the world a better place. _Just like I did._

An eternity seemed to pass between them, and he finally ended the silence with a grunt. "You better be damn sure that you know what you're doing."

"Roger that, mate," Yuan said, tossing a salute at him. "How about you?"

"I'll hold the line here," he answered. "Give them something to focus on, so you can do what you got to do."

"Alright." Ignoring that a bullet just went past above his head, Yuan turned around and stretched his back, a moan escaping his mouth. "Wish me luck, Soldier 76."

The boy was about to take a step forward when Jack stopped him. "Wait."

Yuan twisted his shoulder to face him, quirking a brow at him.

Jack gulped in a deep breath, and looked him straight in the eye. "It's Jack. Jack Morrison."

Yuan continued to look questioningly at him for a few seconds until his lips curled into a smirk. "Huh, I knew that the Reaper dude wasn't spouting random names. You got a badass name, by the way."

Immediately after that, the boy faced forward and sprinted out of cover, turning the shelf's corner and out of sight. Jack peeked out to see Yuan running out of the store, gunfire raining down on him.

He took that as his cue to shove a new clip into his pulse rifle, and with a growl fired everything he had at the Talon operatives. They noticed him too late, for several of them were shot down before the rest ducked under the fire.

Meanwhile, Yuan crouched in the middle of the road, his sword pointing at the cement beneath him. Then the blade exploded with flames, and the boy shot upward as a great jet of fire propelled him into the air, past all the surrounding buildings and over the one where the Talon operatives were on.

 _I really hope you know what you're doing, kid_. Jack sighed as he pulled his pulse rifle to his chest, looking at the building where the boy had gone over. _Even if you're a soldier. Especially that you're a soldier_.

ooOoo

He gripped his bow tighter as he watched the dragon fly around two humanoid shapes in the distance, an arrow already nocked. _I must strike at the right time._

He spotted movement by the corner of his eyes, and he turned to see a man in red armor land on a distant rooftop, leaving a trail of fire behind him. _It is curious that his equipment looks obsolete in a timeline like this._

The man dashed forward, a long, crimson sword in his hands as he leapt to another rooftop. He seemed to be calling the dragon, as his mouth appeared to be yelling out something while he waved his blade at it. _Overall, he looks like a baka._

The man then whipped his sword to cover his torso and head just as bullets started showering his position. A few rooftops ahead of him, a group of black-vested men were firing their guns at him. _He must be one of_ _them_ _, then._

After scanning the area and confirming that no one had spotted him yet, he leveled his bow at one of the men in black and pulled the arrow. He made adjustments to his aim, then fired.

The arrow cut through the air and found its mark: the chest of a black-vested man, who arched his back and fell out of sight. The others began to turn to his direction, but he already had more arrows heading their way.

Several heart/lung shots later, the group of rifle-wielders all dropped to the floor and out of sight.

The man in red poked his head out from behind his blade, and pulled it down upon seeing no more men were firing at him. He continued dash at the dragon, which was still having a skirmish with the two humanoids.

The man in red aimed the tip of his sword at the beast, and to his surprise released a beam of fire from the blade. The dragon roared as flames rolled over it, and it turned to the man with a growl.

He watched as the medieval-armored man crouched as the dragon charged him, flapping its great metal wings and releasing a roar. Behind it, the two humanoid shapes gave chase, one of them yelling in a female voice.

The dragon dropped a claw, intending to swipe the man with it. When the distance left between them was only a few meters, the man leapt to the side, completely dodging the beast's attack albeit dangerously close to it. But before the man could land, he pointed his sword downward and shot to the dragon with a burst of flame from the blade.

He ended up on the dragon's back, where he pulled his sword up and slammed into the base of the beast's neck. His war cry could be heard for miles, as well as the metal monster's roar a second after. The dragon began to roll through midair, looking determined to shake the swordsman off. The two flew off to the distance, the now more visible yellow and gray people chasing after them.

The gray shape particularly caught his interest, and his blood ran cold when he made out the silvery plates of metal covering every inch of the humanoid's body. He growled and pulled out an arrow from his quiver, nocking it to his bow as he dashed after them.

 _I must look out for ototo, for I have failed to do so years ago._

ooOoo

Jack likened his situation to a robber's; stuck in a building with the police waiting outside in waves.

The problem was worse than he thought- Talon operatives practically trickled into the street in front of him, and they took cover behind cars and a police box as they trained their assault rifles on his position.

Well, not really. The shelf he previously took cover behind had been ripped to shreds since a while go, along with its brethren behind it. Jack was currently under the counter, which was a solid marble material. _Thank god that they fund the 7/11 brand well._

He wasn't sure why the Talon soldiers outside hadn't left yet. He would've thought that they would think him dead; the gunfire they assaulted the store with was no joke. _Maybe they know that I'm not an easy man to kill, after all. They're probably waiting for me to jump out and wave a white flag._

He froze when he heard sniffling from behind him. Jack turned around to look at the door labeled "storage room". He leaned forward and listened closely- indeed, someone was wracked with sniffling.

He looked up at the doorknob. It was noting but a stump of gold-colored material; the mass gunfire earlier must have blown it off.

Jack crept forward, staying low to not show himself to the Talon operatives. He poked the door with the tip of his pulse rifle, and it was pushed in slightly.

There was a shout, and gunfire dominated the space above him- bullets being unloaded from dozens of guns. Some landed on his back and bounced off his head, and Jack growled as he lunged forward, practically diving through the door and into the room beyond it.

He shut the door behind him, which was a futile action; bullets punched holes all over it, and he wouldn't be surprised if it got evaporated sooner or later. Jack turned to observe the storage room further.

It was a dull place of gray; average size with shelves lining the back wall, with stuff and other junk filled them to the brim. Cardboard boxes were strewn all over the place, some filled with items and others not.

What really caught Jack's attention was the girl sitting on the corner, crying; she looked a little over six or seven, with a pink shirt and overalls as her attire. Her tear-stained face looked up from the teddy bear she was sobbing on, and her pupils dilated when she caught sight of him.

"No..." the girl latched onto the stuffed toy as if she did dear life, shrinking against the wall. "Don't hurt me, stranger..."

"No, no," Jack said with a shake of his head. "I'm not gonna hurt you. What's wrong?"

The girl sniffed, her lip trembling as streams of tears fell down her face. "I want mum and dad..."

He nodded and took a step towards her, but halted when she flinched and hid her face behind her teddy bear, as if to shield herself.

Jack remembered a scenario like this back in the old days; a small child's hand in his while his other one held on to a pulse rifle. He had been defending a choke point from rogue omnics, with him quite literally ending up on top of all of their corpses with the child after.

He latched on to the memory; it reminded him of why Overwatch existed and what its purpose was for. _To make the world a better and safer place._

He knelt in front of the girl, who sniffed and looked up at him. Fear was evident in her eyes as he watched them through his visor.

With a sigh, he grabbed his mask and gingerly pulled it off. The pollution in the air hit him hard for the first time, but he ignored that when his eyes came face to face with the girl's.

"Look, kid," he began, speaking slowly as to not frighten her. "I promise that I'll get you to your mom and dad. However, there are a lot of bad people out there and I need you to stick with me. Can you trust me?"

The girl's eyes were glassy with tears, but her child-like innocence shone through. She chewed her lip, as if unsure about something. "Mum told me that I shouldn't be with strangers."

"Well, I'm not a stranger," he replied. Memories came flooding in, and he gave the girl a smile. "I'm actually a hero."

The girl's eyes flashed with curiosity and awe, but she continued to stare at him. Jack took that as a cue to continue. "Ever heard of Overwatch, kid?"

The girl's eyes glanced to the ceiling, as if she were thinking. "Um... yeah. Dad told me that they used to protect the world from bad guys."

"Well, guess what," Jack said, and he was surprised that he was still smiling. "I'm the leader of Overwatch. I came here to fight the bad guys out of town."

"Really?" the girl asked, her jaw dropping to the floor.

"Yeah, really." He rose and offered a hand to her. "So am I still a stranger?"

Her eyes trained on his hand, and a few seconds later she laid her own tiny one on it. "No, I guess... Mum told me that heroes are very, very good guys."

"And you'll be able to tell her that she's right when you see her later." He pulled, and she got to her feet with her teddy bear in her other hand. "So what's your name, kid?"

She brushed the tears from her eyes with an arm, and the first genuine smile touched her lips. "I'm Alexandra."

The name made him recall a memory of saving an older girl a few weeks ago, who had a similar name. He smiled. "That's a nice name."

She grinned up at him, but she immediately flinched when a bullet tore through the wall and slammed into a shelf beside her, sending multiple objects falling to the floor. Fear returned to her eyes, and the sight made Jack growl.

He put his mask on and glanced at the door, which was basically nothing but a plastic screen with holes covering every inch of its surface. He gripped his pulse rifle tighter. "Alexandra, when I said there were bad people out there, I mean very, very bad people. They only want to see us get hurt. I'll take care of them, okay?"

Alexandra nodded meekly, hugging her teddy bear tighter as the sounds of gunfire raged on.

Jack nodded back and pulled his pulse rifle up to chest level. "Stay here. I'll be back."

He turned around and kicked the door down, which wasn't hard to do. He dove under the counter before he could get sprayed with bullets and tapped a button on his head gear. In his visor, a line of text appeared; "TACTICAL VISOR ENGAGED."

Immediately after, an orange screen came to being in front of his face. He then jumped to his feet and whirled around to face dozens of Talon soldiers outside the store, their assault rifles trained on him.

He brought his own pulse rifle to bear when the orange screen presented target markers on the center of their bodies, highlighting everyone in view.

"I've got you in my sights," Jack growled. Not a millisecond after, he pulled the trigger and let loose.

Every round hit their target, and he constantly switched to a new target when the previous one was instantly shot down. He was shredding their numbers so rapidly that they were barely able to return fire being mowed down. Bullets whizzed past him and stopped with every Talon soldier he shot down.

When it was time to reload, he did so without breaking a sweat. Fully loaded from its empty clip half a second ago, Jack's pulse rifle shredded everything in sight with all the ferocity only a machine gun should have.

Just as the last Talon grunt fell down, the orange screen blinked off, with his visor indicating that the Tactical Visor was at 0% power.

He was watching the corpses of the Talon men when a thought occurred to him. _The dropship. Alexandra will be safe there._

He poked his head into the storage room and gave a look at Alexandra, who has huddling at the corner. "Follow me. We're gonna get you to a safe place."

The girl nodded and walked to him, placing a hand on his. He gripped it tightly, and together they dashed out the store, jumping over the shattered remains of a window pane.

Alexandra almost stumbled when she caught sight of the Talon soldiers lying on the ground and their own blood. Jack tugged at her hand, urging her to move. "Come on," he said. "Just stick with me and don't look back!"

She gulped and did as he said, the two of them moving through the street as fast as they could. Jack cursed under his breath when he spotted more Talon operatives on top of a building, their assault rifles aimed at the them.

"Run, Alexandra!" he shouted, and he pulled his pulse rifle up to fire at the Talon soldiers. The bullets showering them stopped when the enemy ducked behind the rooftop.

Jack was no religious man, but he sent a prayer to whatever deity was present anyway. _God help me get Alexandra to safety, if not myself._

ooOoo

Genji had been getting the feeling that someone has been watching them for the past few minutes, but the thought always got lost when he beheld the sight of Yuan riding the mechanical dragon, powerful winds blowing his hair back as he probably held on the sword impaled to the beast's nape for dear life.

"Has he lost his bloody mind?" Lena shrieked as they leapt from roof to roof after the two. "He's gonna get himself killed, the bloody idiot!"

Genji tossed three shurikens at the dragon, with them only succeeding to bounce off its armored hide. "You have been expressing that repeatedly for the last couple of minutes."

"And why the hell should I not?" Lena skidded to the stuff and waved her arms frantically at Yuan and the dragon. "Yuan is RIDING a DRAGON!"

Genji looked up to observe the dragon flying around in circles, with Yuan screaming on top of it as he clung to his sword. He shrugged. "I'm sure he has faced wilder things before. His background surely suggests something of the sort."

Lena groaned and tossed her hands at the sky. "I don't care! What matters is that we should save his ass-gone-bonkers!"

Genji's hearing picked up something slicing through the air, and he shoved Lena aside to slash his katana at a bullet, which clattered on the floor beside him.

More gunfire came, and with practiced motion he deflected all of them. Lena sighed, her shoulders slumping as she said; "And there's also Talon..."

A few rooftops away, a group of armed Talon soldiers fired a few more rounds at them, which Genji simply deflected. He tossed a shuriken which struck the neck of one of them, and sent him tumbling to the floor. "It actually is quite worrying how they seem to be crawling all over the place..."

"You can say that again, love." Lena whipped out her pulse pistols to fire at the Talon operatives, seeing that Yuan and the dragon weren't really going anywhere. It was when she was reloading that she froze, her eyes widening. "Oh, bloody hell.."

Genji tilted his head at her when the enemy's gunfire died down, the Talon men ducking behind cover to probably reload. "Oh?"

"Soldier 76!" Lena exclaimed, concern evident in her voice. "Aren't he and Yuan supposed to be fighting Talon agents of their own? If Yuan's here, then what's happened to him?"

"Ah..." Genji swung his katana to deflect a bullet, and the man who fired it was shot down by his own doing. _Commander Morrison's status is indeed worrisome..._

The Talon squad unleashed another hail of bullets at them, and it wasn't until they ran out of ammo and hid that he spoke. "I shall find the good commander. Until then, you must hold the line here and keep an eye on Yuan."

Lena pursed her lips and looked at him with concern. "Are you sure you don't need any help, love?"

Genji gave her a smile, though he knew she wouldn't see it through his mask. He nodded. "Yes, I am sure. Anyway, it looks like he needs much more help than I do."

He pointed at Yuan, who was whooping as he rode the dragon in a surf boarding stance, with his hands curled around the hilt of his sword.

Lena chuckled, her lips curling to a smirk. "Yeah, you're right. The poor bloke looks like he's gonna yell his head off any second."

Genji hummed and nodded. Lena sucked a breath, her eyes opening to show steel. She then gave him a nod. "Alright, love. I'll leave you to it. Just come back with Soldier safely, yeah?"

"We shall see," he replied. He spun around and bent his knees, then sprang high into the air, leaping over multiple rooftops before he could land on one. Genji continued dashed off to look for Jack Morrison.

All the while, he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone was watching him.

ooOoo

Hand in hand, Jack ran through the streets with Alexandra. There was a bit of difficulty in doing so, with the girl's limited speed and Talon on their tails, but he thought he could manage it.

The dragon roared beyond, unseen behind the buildings of the street. It was growing louder by the minute, so Jack knew they were getting close. He glanced at Alexandra when she let out a whimper.

"Yeah, there are more bad things ahead," he told her gently. "But if you stick with me, I promise that you won't get hurt."

"O-okay," Alexandra murmured. Her grip on his hand tightened.

Just then, a storm of bullets showered them, and with a growl Jack put the screaming Alexandra in front of him while his back faced the gunfire.

After unleashing some pulse rounds at the Talon soldiers in the rooftops, he turned to see a car by the side of the road. Miraculously, it still remained intact after all the previous chaos.

"Get behind that!" he told Alexandra, and he pointed at the vehicle ahead. She nodded, and they both sprinted for it as fast as they can.

Jack bit back a cry when something sharp dug into his ankle with an explosion of pain. He growled, and when they were a few feet away from the car he scooped Alexandra in his arms and dove forward. He grunted as the side of his body skidded across the cement when they landed behind the car.

He released Alexandra from his grasp, and he was relieved to see her without a scratch. He pulled his back to lean against the car and twisted his foot around as much as possible. _She may be uninjured, but the same couldn't be said for me._

There was a hole in the back of his shoe, which extended to a his ankle, which was trickling out blood. He could see the butt of a bullet protruding out the wound. _This thing's definitely cracked a bone in me,_ he thought when he applied pressure to his foot, gritting when pain rolled through it in waves. I won't be able to move efficiently with this.

He did his best to poke out of cover without using the injured foot, and with a growl he fired at the Talon operatives with his pulse rifle. One of them was caught in the chest by a blue bolt, while the others ducked to avoid the fire.

"Mister Leader?" Alexandra asked, and he turned to see her eyeing his foot with worry. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he lied, not wanting to crush the girl's hope with his current handicap. He sighed as he reloaded his pulse rifle. "Call me Soldier 76, by the way."

 _The world doesn't need to know that Jack Morrison is alive._

"Mister Soldier 76?" Alexandra asked with a tilt of her head.

He chuckled and pulled his rifle to chest level. "Just Soldier 76."

He pulled out of cover, ignoring the flash of pain from his injury. He took aim at the Talon squad and pulled the trigger. Their gunfire immediately stopped as they dove into cover to avoid the pulse rounds.

"When are we going to leave this place?" Alexandra asked, a touch nervousness in her voice. She wrapped her arms around her teddy bear, pulling it against her chest.

With the state he was in, Jack could believe that they wouldn't be able to leave until Talon completely surrounded them. That train of thought stopped as he looked at her eyes, remembering the day when he had gone against an army with a child, and triumphed hand in hand.

"When I'm finished with these bad guys," he finally answered. "Don't worry, because that'll be soon."

He could feel himself withering inside as he practically fed the girl lies. _Honestly, what can we do? But I have to try, for Alexandra's sake..._

Several cries pierced the air, and Jack twisted around to see a Talon grunt crashing into the street opposite of them, with the familiar form of Genji in the rooftop with the rest of the Talon squad.

They didn't stand a chance. Shurikens flew, a katana sliced through the air, and the cyber ninja danced through every attack they threw at him. Soon every Talon soldier on that roof was taken down by either a shuriken in their chest or their neck getting slashed open cleanly.

Genji made a familiar hand gesture against his chest, and he was gone in a puff of purple smoke.

Alexandra screamed, and he whirled around to level his pulse rifle at the assailant. However, it was only Genji standing in front of them.

The ninja tilted his head, almost in a curious manner. " _Kon'nichiwa_ , Soldier 76. May I ask who the girl is?"

Jack gave him a nod of thanks before gesturing at her with a hand. "This is Alexandra," he said, then turned to her. "That is Genji; he's a friend."

The girl nodded meekly, looking up at the cyborg with eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Hullo, Mr. Genji,"

Genji clasped his hands and bowed at her. "Greetings, Alexandra-chan. You have no need to fear me, for I'm the friendly neighborhood green cyborg ninja dude."

Jack raised a brow while the girl giggled, a smile gracing her lips. "Spider Man is old news," he grumbled.

Genji ignored his statement as he turned to him, his look turning harder. "Sir, how do you fare?"

"I need to get this kid to the dropship," he replied immediately. "She isn't safe here."

Genji lowered his gaze, and Jack had a feeling he was now looking at his injured feet. "And you?" the ninja asked.

"I'll be fine." With a grunt, he brought himself to his feet using the car as leverage. "How's your situation?"

Genji continued to look at him, as if wanting to press further. Instead he sighed and replied, "Yuan is riding the dragon."

Jack froze, and he narrowed his eyes at the ninja. "What."

"Did he not tell you of what he planned to do?" Genji asked. "He was with you earlier, if I recall."

He shook his head and growled. "Why the hell is he riding the dragon?"

Genji shrugged his shoulders. "As you Westerners say- 'beats me'. Perhaps he thought he can control the dragon? A lot of movies depict people being able to ride great beasts if they have direct access to its nervous system."

"So he's controlling it, then?" Jack asked. _What the hell was going on the kid's head?_

Genji shook his head. "More like clinging for dear life."

He groaned. He glanced at Alexandra, who looked at a loss for what they were talking about. "Anyway, I'll be bringing her to the dropship. You can tell the rest on the way."

He made to take a step forward when pain exploded in his injured foot, causing him to freeze with a grunt. He didn't dare move in fear of causing greater pain to himself.

Genji walked to his side, his green visor trained on his foot. "It would not do you any good to walk whilst having an injury like this. Let me help you. I'm sure Tracer could hold her own for a few more minutes."

Jack growled and looked away. He knew that they were wasting daylight, and that he wasn't doing anyone a favor with his behavior. But his damn pride was still trying to hold up. _Oh, what the hell..._

"What're you waiting for, then?" he asked gruffly, his tone bordering on snapping. Genji nodded, then grabbed his arm and slung it over his metal-plated shoulder. Jack could feel most of the pressure on his feet washing away, the pain being reduced to a dull ache.

He looked at Alexandra and tilted his head at the road ahead. "You coming, kid?"

She nodded with a hum, and with the help of Genji, he began walking forward, with her by his side. Gunshots could be heard in the distance, and Jack's gut twisted at the intensity of the sound. _Must be a lot of guns firing. Let's hope Lena and Yuan are okay._

ooOoo

Seeing as how his brother was currently fine with the other two, he switched his attention to the squads of black-vested men and dragon.

It took a few hops from roof to roof, but he quickly made his way to the battle. The yellow shape in the distance- whom he can now identify was a woman- was zipping around in unreal speed, a trail of blue tracing her movement. She was hopping from groups of men in black to another, trying to take out as many as possible before speeding away from heavy gunfire.

He looked at the dragon, which was currently flying around above what appeared to be the town square. The red-armored boy was still hanging onto the beast, gritting his teeth as both of his hands gripped the hilt of his long sword.

The town square itself appeared insignificant, aside from the strange aircraft lying in the center of its great space. His senses picked up multiple thumping sounds, and he turned to see a sight that creased his brows in worry.

More black-vested men were moving from rooftop to rooftop, heading to the circle of buildings that made the perimeter of the town square. He looked around to see more of the men with assault rifles converging to the town square from on top of the buildings. They all moved in groups, and he took a gander that if he looked from above the sight would be comparable to a black swarm of angry ants zeroing on its prey from multiple angles.

 _Their numbers are too great,_ he thought. _More than the woman in yellow could possibly handle, despite her inhuman speed._

He decided that it was time to intervene again. Pulling an arrow from his quiver, he nocked it to his bow and aimed at the nearest squad, which was a few rooftops away. He pulled the bow, then released after a few seconds.

The arrow cut through the air and struck one of the armed men's chest, and he dropped out of sight. The others jumped in surprise and began looking around, like frantic sheep for wolves.

 _Marked by the dragon._ The next arrow he nocked was a scatter arrow, a more technologically advanced variant than his usual ammunition. He pulled on its longer-than-average form, then let loose.

The projectile landed at the center of the group of men, and blue pinpricks of smaller arrows exploded outward from it. A second later, the entire squad fell down, their last sound a brief cry.

Bullets passed him from behind, and he growled and ducked behind cover in cement walls lining the top of the building's perimeter. _I have been spotted._

As gunfire roared above him, he moved to other side of roof while preparing an arrow. Then he rose, fired it at the squad of men at the distance, then ducked to avoid the shower of bullets. _At this point, I can only reduce the amount of enemies focusing on the others. I pray that this is enough._

ooOoo

They followed the sounds of battle around a corner and into a road that lead to the town square. Jack felt his foot starting to get better, but he knew he still wouldn't be able to do good with it.

"Is that the dropship?" asked Alexandra, pointing at said vehicle in the center of the square.

"Yeah," he replied. "We're almost there. You're gonna be safe in a few minutes."

She nodded in reply. "Will my mum and dad be waiting for me?"

Jack pursed his lips and looked away, coming face to face with Genji's impassive mask. The ninja gave a head tilt at him.

After a while, he turned to Alexandra and nodded. "Yeah. You'll be seeing them later."

She smiled brightly, and a spring began to show in her step.

Genji suddenly shot out from under Jack's arm, and he barely leaned back from falling forward. The cyborg stood in front of them and sheathed his katana and swung it multiple times at the air. Bullets fell on the ground around him.

"Take cover!" Genji yelled. "Enemies ahead!"

Jack looked up and spotted two groups of Talon soldiers in opposite buildings ahead of the street. He took hold of Alexandra's arm and pulled her along as he limped his way to a car at the side. "Run!"

They were able to get behind it before gunfire rained on their position. The car's windows broke, and he pulled Alexandra under him before shards of glass pelted his back.

When there was no more glass to shower on them, he peeked out to see Genji leap into the top of a building, his katana in his hands.

With a growl, he shoved a new clip in his pulse rifle after noting that he would only have three clips left. He then poked out of cover and fired at one Talon squad, catching one of them in the head while the rest ducked to cover.

Several men from the other group of Talon agents fell off the building, their screaming cut short when they crashed into the pavement. There were shouts and cries from the other operatives, and just as they fell silent, Genji leapt from the building they were on and to the other building where the second Talon squad was. Bullets flew by the ninja before he landed on the building, and more shouts came.

Jack picked up the familiar sounds of dual pulse pistols in action, and just as the group of Talon soldiers fell silent, there was a flash of blue beside him.

"Wotcher, love," Lena said whilst tossing a salute. "How's it going?"

He sighed and looked at his injured foot. "Could've done better, but there were some factors I couldn't ignore."

He patted the top of Alexandra's head, who was oddly looking at Lena wearily. "Like this kid. Her name's Alexandra. Hey, you should know who Tracer is. I heard she's a big hit these days."

"Hiya there, love!" Lena bent her knees to be at eye level with the girl. "Aren't you such a cutie? Alexandra's a very pretty name, by the way."

"Um..." Alexandra shuffled her feet and looked at the ground, as if wanting to be anywhere but there right now. "I know you... But that's because mum told me you did a very bad thing."

Immediately, Jack recalled a reason why Lena was such a 'big hit'. _She was the only one spotted in Mondatta's assassination. Of course people would speculate she had something to do with it._

An emotion not entirely Lena-like showed in her eyes, but only for a brief second. Lena rose and chuckled, a sound that seemed to strain. "Well, kid. Your mum heard wrong. I'm one of the good guys!"

Alexandra pursed her lips. "I didn't know mum could be wrong..."

"You kids aren't the only ones who make mistakes," Jack said, remembering the man whom he thought was his friend. He shook his head and turned to Lena. "What's the status, Tracer?"

Just then, Genji landed beside her, but Lena ignored him as her face twisted with frustration. "Cripes, I forgot about that! It's getting worse, y'know. Talon is everywhere!"

Jack took a sharp intake of breath. "What do you mean by 'Talon is everywhere'?"

"She means," Genji cut in with a dark tone, "that Talon has completely covered the perimeter of the town square. They're also guarding every road that leads here. It is fortunate that we took down the squads who were here."

"Oh, and don't forget Yuan!" Lena said. She narrowed her eyes at Jack. "Were the both of you actually planning to have him ride the dragon?"

Jack groaned and shook his head. "No. He just told me that's he's got something creative in his sleeve. I honestly don't know what came to him when he thought riding a mechanical dragon was a good idea."

"Most likely he thought that would get the beast's attention." Genji looked up just when a huge silvery form flew past them, with the whoops of a certain boy following it. "It seems to be working, at the very least."

Jack growled and hoisted his rifle to his chest. "He won't be holding on for long. Since all of us are here, we can finally get something done with that dragon."

He limped forward, waving the approaching Genji off as he began moving to the town square. Something small grabbed his empty hand, and he glanced at Alexandra, who was walking by his side.

"Alright!" Lena cheered. The dragon and Yuan passed by, and she shouted at latter, "You hear that, love? Cavalry's here!"

Yuan yelled something in reply, but it was inaudible from where he was at.

"You're bringing me to the dropship?" Alexandra asked Jack.

"Yeah." He paused, crouching as he spotted black specks on the roofs of the other half of the town square's perimeter. "We can't go directly, though. The place is a kill zone."

"Indeed," Genji said. "We must be discreet and come from another angle."

"But what happens if we're caught?" Lena asked, nervousness in her voice.

"Well, I'm almost out of juice." Jack looked down at his pulse rifle. "It's really up to the two of you in case anything goes wrong."

He turned to them and saw Genji give a bow. "I shall do my best," the cyber ninja said.

Lena snorted, her pulse pistols shooting out of her gauntlets and into her hands. "It's a good thing I spent most of my time making sure Yuan wouldn't fall off rather than shooting at Talon soldiers."

Jack nodded, and looked down at Alexandra. Her eyes showed uncertainty, and he mouthed to her, "It'll be fine."

"Okay, then." Jack tightened the grip on his pulse rifle as he swept his gaze to the other two. "First we'll get Alexandra to the dropship- the dragon comes second. We'll skirt around the square's peri-"

 _"LOOK OUT!"_

The building beside them exploded, and they dove to the ground just before rubble flew past them and crashed into the road, sending dust everywhere.

Jack pulled Alexandra in his arms, his mask allowing him better vision through the dust cloud. He looked up and saw a great silvery shape rising out of the building's wreckage, thrashing around as it gave a creaking roar.

Then all the dust was blown away by metallic wings, and the dragon reared back as it clawed at the air in front of it. On its back, Yuan pulled on his sword as if it were the reigns of a horse.

The dragon roared, a bellowing sound that shook the earth. Then it leapt into the air, veering to the side as it flew away while thrashing violently to get the boy off its back. The beast slammed into the top of a building, paving through it before it gained speed and continue its flight around the town square.

"Is he trying to kill us now?" Lena asked with an annoyed tone. That was when bullets assaulted their position, and with a growl Jack pulled Alexandra with him as he dove behind debris of the destroyed building. His foot wracked his nerves with pain, and he gritted his teeth.

"No," Genji said gravely behind his own cover, a pile of debris a distance from them. He armed his hands with shurikens as he said, "But Talon does, I'm afraid."

"Oh, bollocks," Lena cursed. She was crouching behind the wreckage of a car far back. "They've spotted us?"

Gunfire showered her cover in response. The intensity of the fire unnerved Jack. _It's literally raining bullets._

Just as enemy fire died down, he glanced at his pulse rifle. _I've barely got anything left, so I better take my shots carefully._

He pulled himself out of cover, ignoring the pain in his foot. He leveled his pulse rifle at one of the Talon squads, taking his time to aim since as were literally in the other side of the square.

He pulled the trigger, releasing a burst of blue bolts at the Talon operatives. Most zipped past them, but one man fell down after being clipped in the chest.

Jack ducked into cover just before a hail of bullets replied to his assault. Gunfire raged above him, and he gripped his pulse rifle tight as he waited for it to come to a lull.

From the other pile of rubble, Genji poked out to toss a few shurikens at a distant Talon squad. He immediately crouched to evade a storm of gunfire assaulting his position.

"There's too many of them!" Lena yelled, firing a clip from her pulse pistols at the Talon operatives. "At this rate, we'll be mowed down soon."

Alexandra whimpered and clutched her teddy bear tighter. Jack growled and rose when the gunfire above stopped. He aimed at the same Talon group and fired, taking down two men before he fell into cover. "That doesn't matter. We'll hold down this position until we don't have any juice left!"

"Which is sooner than you expect Sir," Genji replied, his voice low. Jack glanced at him to see the cyber ninja staring at him from behind the green visor. "I am running out of shurikens."

Jack didn't know what say in response. The sounds of gunfire raining their cover continued on, his finger itching to pull the trigger on the Talon squad. _The situation is getting near hopeless._

"Well, then," Lena spoke, her chipper voice sounding like it didn't belong in the situation, despite its strained tone. "We're screwed over now, aren't we?"

The assault of bullets drowned out any sound after that, and Jack thought it was never going to end. He could only glance at Alexandra, who looked like she was holding onto her stuffed toy for dear life.

 _I can't give up now_. He sensed a lull in enemy gunfire, and he rose to take aim at a Talon squad. Bullets whizzed past him as he pulled the trigger, his pulse rifle releasing a few rounds of blue energy. A bullet grazed his arm, and he was forced to take cover before he could see if his shots were true.

 _There are people counting on me._

ooOoo

Yuan knew that he was the most challenged of the group when it came to combat; swords aren't supposed to be for fighting guns, after all. Which was why he thought he could make himself someone they can count on by taking drastic measures to secure the objective.

Yet as he wrapped his fingers around Drakon's hilt as much as he can while the wind whipped at his face, he knew he had made a big mistake. _I've done fucked up now, didn't I?_

Yuan had fought this dragon before. He had impaled swords into its body, tossed a spear at its eye, kept a blade in its side as he and his sister's dragon wrestled with it. _But in all those times, I had allies with me._

Oh, he had allies now. Except they were busy fighting their own war. He peeked over the dragon's side to see the others behind cover from far below. In the other side of the square, swarms of black-vested Talon soldiers filled the top of buildings like angry, buzzing ants. _I hope they'll be able to handle all of these guys._

Suddenly, the dragon tipped down, slowly turning its momentum to a dive. The wind whipped Yuan's face harsher, and he shielded his face as he looked at where the dragon was descending. All the while, his one hand on Drakon's hilt gripped it tighter.

He gasped upon that the dragon was heading straight towards the others, particularly Jack and a girl behind a broken part of the building.

He growled and took hold of his sword in both hands. Pouring all his strength, he tried shove it deeper while tilting it sideways. _I'm gonna eat my armor if I actually manage to turn the dragon away._

There was a snap, and Yuan almost stumbled when Drakon suddenly dug deeper by a good meter. The dragon roared, its metallic body rumbling under his feet.

 _Here's hoping..._ With a roar, Yuan shoved the impaled Drakon to the side, fire engulfing his arms and the blade. The dragon shrieked, and to his surprise it veered away from the others, an uncomfortable amount of distance barely between them.

The dragon began to fling itself at each side erratically, and Yuan curled his fingers around Drakon's flaming hilt tighter. _You're not gonna be shaking_ _me_ _off, bozo._

He looked up just to see that they were flying straight at the town hall. He held back a scream as he planted his feet on the dragon as much as possible while pulling back at his sword. "OH SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, NO-"

They slammed into the town hall, and Yuan's vision exploded with dust. The sound of concrete falling apart grated his ears, and he gritted his teeth as he held on as much as possible. He didn't know if he was barrel-rolling or being shook from side to side; he only knew that the dragon was roaring furiously as it thrashed around.

 _I can't believe that I'm saying this,_ Yuan thought to himself. _But I hope the bastard gets out of the dust cloud so I can see better._

He stayed in a world of dust for a few more seconds, then the cloud parted to reveal the orange and smoky sky above. He looked down to see that he was still riding the dragon, and the wreckage of the town hall still hidden in dust.

As he looked at the ruins, an ominous feeling came to him. One, he realized, was the same as when he first sensed the dragon in this this universe. Oddly, however, it wasn't as oppressive.

 _"Yuan..."_

He would've jumped in surprise if it wasn't for the fact that he was busy holding onto a flying dragon. Despite the voice sounding as if it came from inside his head, he leaned forward- as if expecting to hear better.

 _"Yuan, can you hear me?..."_

 _Wait a minute,_ he thought, a feeling akin to giddiness growing in his chest. _Is that who I think it is?..._

"Master..." Yuan struggled to speak against the wind, and he raised a hand to shield his face. "... Hand?"

 _"Yes, it's me,"_ the god-like being said in his forever firm and commanding voice. He sighed; an odd sound when it came to his tone. _"Thank goodness I found you. Andie's been threatening to spear me ever since you disappeared."_

"Oh. That's nice." Yuan began to suck a deep breath, but stopped when he realized he didn't want a gale of wind whipping inside his mouth. "So any plans for this lost soul? It's okay if you leave me to die here- there's this hot British girl I made friends with."

There was a sigh that resonated in his mind- a far more fitting sound for Master Hand. _"I'd rather keep you in the mansion than terrorizing any more females with your presence. By the way, that means I'm making a portal near you; you should be able to see it."_

"There are buildings everywhere. I'm sure they'll probably block my vis-" Yuan left his jaw hanging when he spotted the sight below.

The dust that encompassed the ruins of the town square was gone, and in its place was a huge vortex of swirling purple masses- almost as wide as the building itself. Light flashed within the portal, like a purple lightning storm from beyond the void.

But Yuan knew better. It was probably his only chance of going back home.

 _"Do you see it?"_ Master Hand asked.

Yuan shook his head, more to wave off the surprise. "Yeah... I see it. It's a pretty big target."

 _"Then what're you waiting for?"_ Master Hand asked in an impatient tone. _"Get in!"_

This time Yuan did gulp air, ignoring the feeling of his teeth seemingly being blown away. He bit his lip as he stared at the others, whose cover looked considerably smaller than when the Talon groups rained fire on them a while ago. "Master Hand... Can you see what I'm doing?"

The eldritch sighed. _"I can only wish, Yuan; the world you're in is too far for my powers of observation to reach. I can only establish a mode of transportation from there to here. Which reminds me- why aren't you-"_

"Master Hand." Yuan released a sigh of his own. "Remember my background? The part with the dragon? It got in here somehow, and I need to stop it. I can't leave without it going too."

There was only silence from the other end, and Yuan felt a knot twisting in his gut. He held Drakon's hilt tighter as the dragon made another turn around the square.

Finally, the Hand of Creation made a sound akin to a hum. _"This has generated many questions, child- worrisome questions. But no matter; I will leave the dragon to you whilst I keep the portal going as long as I can."_

Yuan sighed in relief, even as a roar from the dragon shook his feet. "That'll be great, Master Hand. Thanks."

Master Hand hummed once more. _"God speed, Smasher."_

ooOoo

 _One round left._

Jack Morrison gritted his teeth at the realization. As he stared at the last clip in his hand, a bullet pierced the rubble beside him and dug into the ground. _That didn't happen before._

Alexandra pressed herself against him more, whimpering as more bullets began punching holes through the concrete.

He growled and shoved the clip into his pulse rifle, and stood to face the dozens of Talon squads on the buildings beyond. _They'll be ripping through our cover in no time._

He pulled the trigger, and beams of blue shot toward a group of men. He was able to see three get shot down before he ducked to avoid the heavy gunfire.

He turned around to check how the others were doing. The car Lena was crouching behind looked more like a metal husk of cheese; holes covered the majority of its side as bullets continued to rain on it like a storm.

Genji's cover had lost its former glory; now the rubble was barely enough to hide the metal-clad form of Genji. The cyber ninja was currently doing a mix of parrying bullets with his katana and throwing shurikens with his other hand.

A sob came from beside him, and he looked down at Alexandra. Tears were streaming down her eyes as she held onto her teddy bear as tight as possible.

She sniffled. "I want my mummy and daddy..."

Jack grimaced- it felt uncomfortable on his mask. Thoughts of what he should say ran through his head as he stared at Alexandra's teary face.

Finally, he sucked a breath and placed a hand on her head. "It's okay, kid. You're gonna be seeing them later."

Alexandra nodded, but her defeated stance did not change. Jack sighed and leaned on the debris, resisting the urge to slam his back against it.

 _Why am I feeding her lies?_ He looked up at the smoky, orange sky. It looked dead- like he should've been five years ago. _Do I really have so much hope for Overwatch?_

He sighed, a rumbling sensation in his throat. _Do I still want to feel like a hero?_

There was roar, then a crumbling sound that shook the road beneath them. He popped his head out of cover, and his mouth would've gaped open if the mask wasn't on it.

The town hall of King's Row was crumbling right in front of his eyes. Great pillars were falling to the ground, with some already lying in pieces. The roof broke apart like falling sand, and a massive dust cloud was soon kicked up, obscuring even the large silhouette of the collapsed building.

For a few moments, everything was silent. Even the Talon soldiers that had been firing held their assault rifles to their chest as they watched the cloud of dust.

Suddenly, a great shape burst out of the dust, sending it everywhere with metallic wings. The dragon roared as it thrashed in midair, shaking off the rubble that clung to its huge body. On its back was the familiar form of a red-armored swordsman, still clinging on to his buried blade.

"Blimey!" Lena yelled. "Yuan's still alive?"

A bullet whizzed past Jack's face, and he swore it would've seared his cheek if it wasn't for the mask. He growled and ducked, a storm of bullets raging above him a second later. Beside him, Alexandra whimpered.

"Sir." Genji spoke, and he turned to see the ninja swipe at the air in front of him with his katana. Moments later, bullets fell to join the growing pile around him. "I am running out of projectiles. I can use my blade to deflect, but at this range I'm not sure it would be effective."

"Just hold your ground!" he barked, resisting the urge to groan. He looked at the side of his pulse rifle, the small screen on its surface reading _7/25_. _Just a few shots left._

Again, he was reminded of how hopeless the situation appeared to be. _But I'll push on,_ he thought _. For the sake of the others, at least._

When the hail of gunfire above him stopped, he rose and whipped his pulse rifle in front of him. He was taking aim on a group of Talon thugs when the ground rumbled.

An ominous sound entered his ears; the frenzied whooshing of air while earthen plates shook and sent waves of crackling sound whipping throughout the land. Soon, it was all that he could hear.

He slowly panned his head to the side, and his eyes caught a sight that nearly knocked him off his feet.

Above the remains of the town hall, a circular void of purple had replaced the cloud of dust. Within it, cloud-like masses rolled through and out of sight, crackling with a hot flash of purple.Soon the ground stopped shaking, but the strange sound still persisted in his ears, with a low, bellowing boom from every flash beyond the portal.

"Bloody-!" Lena exclaimed. He turned to see her jaw practically unhitched from her mouth and her arms hanging from her sides. "What the hell is that?"

Her question was left unanswered as a roar dominated Jack's hearing for a brief moment. With a feeling of dread, he looked up to see the dragon flying straight at them. His blood froze and his heart was gripped with fear.

He shoved that aside with a growl, and he aimed his pulse rifle at the dragon's face. He pulled the trigger and let loose with whatever he had left, the pulse rounds striking the beast head on. His breath got stuck in his throat when the dragon was unperturbed by the shots and continued to charge with open wings.

"Shit!" He dropped to the ground and grabbed Alexandra, pulling her underneath him as he tried to curl as much of himself around her as possible. _I can't believe I'm gonna die like this..._

Another roar came, but it had an odd choking sound. He continued to hold Alexandra for a few more seconds, then he realized that the dragon should've hit them by now. He partially unwrapped his arms around the girl and leaned up to poke his head out of cover.

The dragon had turned away from them, thrashing and spinning through the air while shrieking. On its back, Yuan still held on to his sword, but it looked like he was pushing it further into the beast's nape. The boy's mouth opened wide, and Jack could barely hear the war cry.

The two flew higher into the sky, heading away from him and the others. The dragon snapped around in erratic movements, as if trying to contest control of its body over Yuan. It seemed to be winning, with its motions growing more fluid and a face on the boy speaking of a horrified revelation.

Then everything dulled. The sights and sounds were muted in a darker tone, as if they were in the theater, just minutes before the act. Then there was a blue flash, and all the color came back with a rumbling roar.

 _ **"RYU GA WAGA TEKI WO KURAU!"**_

Jack could feel his brain going into shock as he witnessed two blue dragon's shoot out from beyond a building, curling around each other as they traveled. Their mouths opened to release the sane rumbling roar from earlier; unlike the creaking roar of the metallic dragon, this one had a tone that commanded power.

He looked ahead of their trajectory to see Yuan watching them with an unhinged jaw. Meanwhile, the metallic dragon was screeching and clawing at the air as if to grasp- as if it wanted to get away.

The blue dragons struck- their great forms passed the other dragon like they were transparent in their ever-curling flight. Oddly enough, the metallic dragon howled like it was in pain, its entire body freezing upon contact with the dragons. When the twin dragons of blue fully passed and went past the smoky atmosphere beyond, the beast finally fell.

It didn't escape his notice that the dragon was falling directly into the purple avoid. As he watched the beast's descent, he resisted from biting his lips at the question; _What about Yuan?_

When the mechanical beast's body fell past the portal and out of sight, the vortex snapped inward, and with a crack released a shockwave of wind that blew away the entire area.

Jack almost fell to his rear at the force of the gale, and he ducked behind cover and swept Alexandra in his arms. For a few seconds he fought against the unnaturally powerful wind, which whipped his hair and swept tons of dust and pebbles past him.

The wind finally died down, and with a sigh he released Alexandra and let his back fall against the rubble. He closed his eyes and sucked a breath- Alexandra's muffled voice reached his ringing ears, but he brushed it aside for a few moments of calm.

When his ears were finally back to normal, a certain British voice made itself known to his hearing; "Are you okay, love?"

He opened his eyes to find Lena and Alexandra standing in front of him, their expressions showing varying degrees of concern.

He growled and stretched his back. "I'm too damn old for this. And why are the both of you standing there?"

A smirk made it to Lena's lips, and she placed a hand on her hip. "Well, it might have to do with the fact there aren't any Talon thugs pinning our ass anymore."

Jack felt his brows crease. Alexandra asked Lena why she was saying bad words, but he ignored that as he pulled himself to his feet. His foot throbbed with pain, and he was reminded that a bullet almost destroyed his ankle earlier. He turned around and surveyed the town square, a sight that raised a brow from him.

The town square had a layer of floating dust covering it, which reached his knees. The buildings that once held dozens of Talon soldiers were empty, showing no sign that they were ever there. The town hall was practically gone; only the stumps of pillars and its innermost foundations remained.

Most surprising of all was the dropship in the middle of the square, looking like nothing hectic of the sort just happened a minute ago. It had a thin layer of dust in it, though.

"What." He blinked, which Lena could probably tell, based on her laugh.

"That was brilliant!" Lena said. "It's like a light show that scared those guys back to mummy. Am I right, Genji?"

Silence was her answer, and Jack turned to look at the cyber ninja. For some strange reason, Genji was frozen like a statue, his green visor trained at the roof of a distant building.

"Genji? Hello?" Lena asked. She walked over to him and leaned down to be in level with his crouched form, inspecting him with a small frown. "You look like you were frozen by one of Mei's thingamajigs, love."

She yelped and jumped back when the cyber ninja suddenly shook his head, as if getting something off him. _Which is not entirely like him._

Genji looked up at Lena, still saying nothing. Then his head dipped towards the ground. "I am fine, Tracer. There is nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked as he walked to Lena's side. He felt something small wrap around his hand, and he knew it was Alexandra. He squeezed her hand. "You really look like you've seen a ghost."

Genji released a breath, but it didn't sound as if from exasperation. In fact, it was like he was happy. " _Hai_. There is no use for me to lie to you."

Despite the ninja's assurance, Jack still felt that he wasn't telling everything. He brushed it aside, however, when Lena asked a question that made him stop in his tracks.

"Hey," the ex-pilot began, turning to the wreckage of the town hall with pursed lips. "Has anyone seen Yuan?"

 _Damnit, I forgot about him._ He growled and whipped around to face the town hall, although he kept a gentle grip on Alexandra's hand. "He was with the dragon before it entered the vortex! Search the area- he might still be here."

At the mention of the portal-like object, Lena's face paled as she watched the horizon. After standing up, Genji bowed his head, looking unsure. All in all, the two appeared uncertain of the boy's fate.

However, Lena gave him a nod. She made a two-fingered salute. "On it, boss."

She zipped to the distance, leaving a trail of blue. Genji brushed off dust from his metal body and nodded at him as well. "I will do my best to find our comrade. However, I am not sure if he is here anymore."

Before he could reply, the cyber ninja leaped into the air, covering several meters as he bounded forward. When he landed, he jumped off again, disappearing from sight once he was far enough.

"Soldier 76?" Alexandra said, and he looked down at her. She was giving him an inquiring gaze. "Who's Yuan?"

He sucked a breath and turned to the horizon, where dust floated and collapsed buildings littered the land. He wasn't really sure if Yuan joined the dragon into the void, or if he was buried under rubble. _But I damn well am not going to leave him behind when there's a chance of him surviving._

"He's a friend, kid."

 _To be continued..._

ooOoo

 **Psst... There's an epilogue.**


	10. Epilogue

Old Habits Die Hard | Epilogue

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry that I posted this one late, folks. School was a bitch, and I have been trying my best to hold up my academic standing, which is just average. Obviously, I wasn't doing good enough.**

 **I'd like to say that I've appreciated every review so far. It's nice to know that some of you took the time to tell me something about my story, even if you were to already walk out the "proverbial door". Here are my responses;**

 **MXC- Thanks for answering my question. I'm glad you were able to appreciate my story.**

 **Guest (chapter 2, Aug. 2)- Sorry, but I have to use that as a clear indicator of perspectives being changed. Thank you for liking my story.**

 **ticoco- Yeah, characters that already exist in canon are good enough material to use in a story, especially in such a vast world like Overwatch. Each hero has so much potential, especially when it comes to filling the blanks in their background. And thanks for saying that my fic is easy on the eyes; I try to keep it as simple as possible so as to let the readers imagine what is left in a way that they like. And from what I've seen, huge walls of unnecessary text is really a turn-off.**

 **Guest (chapter 3, Aug. 4)- Thanks for saying I've got Lena and Jack down nicely. I'll try to see what I need to work on with Winston. You're answer to why Self-Inserts usually suck is really detailed- and I appreciate you for that. And I know that if I were to be tossed into some other universe that is much different from our own, I would be dead within the first few days or so- just like most other people. But a man can dream, yeah?**

 **Anyway, here is the epilogue. It's been quite a ride, and I'm happy that I was able to please at least some people. More details on what I feel will be told below.**

ooOoo

Mark Lang bit his lip as he glanced at the burning city behind him. _What a disaster._

A few hours ago, reports of a cybernetic dragon attacking King's Row came in, catching the world's attention. Immediately the local police force was summoned to evacuate the civilians out of town, and to restrict them from entering its borders.

They weren't able to go into King's Row themselves, due to the higher ups telling them that it would be the army that'll be actually investigating the scene. They still haven't arrived.

So here they were all, now- holding back thousands of distraught and terrified citizens from the flaming ruins once known as King's Row.

He, himself- a rookie officer- was tasked as one of the police members to hold back the smaller but rowdier bunch of citizens, who were roaring to be let through.

With sadness, he noted that these people were those who brought themselves in as the ones who were missing family members in King's Row. Mark's gaze was drawn to a woman lying on the ground and crying on her husband's shoulder, crying out the name of her daughter.

He wasn't able to watch them longer when an angry man rammed at his shield, and he almost stumbled. He pushed back, managing to bring the larger man a few steps back.

"Sir, the army will be coming in a few minutes," he said, trying to take the uncertainty out of his voice. He considered himself to be failing at that. "You'll see who you want to see soon."

"How the fuck can I be with my wife sooner when you assholes are just standing here?" the man bellowed, rushing forward to toss a burly shoulder at the shield. It impacted, and he barely managed to align himself with the rest of the shielding officers still.

He sighed. _I feel that this is the best police officers receive these days- flak for being incompetent retards._

Which might be true. But he wasn't about to quit his job- the pay was good, after all.

Suddenly, wind whipped at his back. Not the breeze kind of wind, but the gale kind. It was also at that moment when the angry mob before him stopped and actually took a few steps back. However, their sights were at something up behind him.

He flinched when a stronger wind blew through his body, and he turned around to almost drop his shield. A dropship that was unlike the design of any other aircraft he's seen was hovering before him and his fellow cops, its jets sending blasts of air everywhere. With a high-pitched whine, it slowly described to the ground, and upon landing kicked up a cloud of dirt that made Mark raise his shield.

A ramp-like door on its back opened, and he noted that it was just directly in front of him when it crashed into the ground. Dirt flew at his face, and this time he was sent to a coughing fit.

When he opened his eyes, he found that a masked man with a rather large pulse rifle on his back was standing in front of him. Mark swept his eyes over the man's tall form- a vest of red, blue, and white, close-cropped white hair, and a crimson visor that was intimidating to look at.

His heart was gripped with ice when he connected the dots- this was Soldier 76, one of the most wanted vigilantes in the world. And a little girl was beside him, holding his gloved hand.

Behind him, to his side, was a young woman who was wearing a brown flight jacket and had orange spandex around her legs. Her hair was a brown and spiky mane while orange goggles were over her eyes. _Tracer, former Overwatch agent- suspected murderer of peacekeeping idol Tekharta Mondatta._

Opposite to her was an omnic-like being, gray metal plates covering its body. A black bandana was wrapped around its head, where a green visor was looking at him.

Before he could react to who the people are in front of him, Soldier 76 spoke with a gruff voice; "We're here to return this kid."

"ALEXANDRA!" A woman ran into Mark's line of vision, immediately followed by a man. It was the couple he saw previously.

As the woman crouched and opened her arms, the girl let go of Soldier 76's hand and rushed into her chest right after. "Mum! Dad!"

The man also bent down to wrap his arms around the two, all of them smiling with tears in their eyes.

The three of them stayed there a while longer, the child's face buried on her mother's chest while the woman repeated her name as she seemed to hug her tighter.

After a while, the father looked up and into the masked face of Soldier 76, who had been watching them. He pulled his wife and daughter up, and the latter two immediately walked back, the woman carrying her daughter as they went back to the crowd of people. The father stayed to continue looking at Soldier 76, who stared back.

Mark spotted the man's lips make a silent "thank you". The vigilante replied with a slight dip of his head.

When the man turned around and walked off as well, Soldier 76 spun around and began marching back into the dropship, along with Tracer and the bandana-wearing omnic.

Alarm bells rang in Mark's mind, reminding him of how disastrous it could be to let these high-priority individuals leave. Which prompted him to step forward and speak with as much authority as he can.

"Stop." It was a tiny and hoarse sound, at best. He couldn't be blamed, really; Soldier 76's tall build was an intimidating sight.

The three immediately stopped, with the vigilante in front of hip whirling around to give him a look. He felt like soiling his pants, but instead he stood to his full height as best as he can. Soldier 76 was still taller, though.

"B-by the"- The vigilante's shoulders tensed, and he gulped-"order t-the law, you and Tracer are to surrender yourselves f-for the crimes you have committed."

"And you think you're going to make us, punk?" Soldier 76 snapped immediately, taking a step forward as a growl rumbled out of him. Mark barely swallowed a gasp and took a step back, managing to not fall to his rear.

"Now you stop right there, jackass!" a familiar voice said, and Chief Keith walked into the space between him and the vigilante. He leaned forward to stuck his face right in front of Soldier 76's, a deep frown tugging at his lips. "Ya'll are the ones smuggling weapons and killing monks, so what the hell makes you think you can push us around, chump?"

Mark let a sigh of relief escape his lips. Chief Keith was a strict and harsh man, so he was better suited to take on an imposing figure like Soldier 76.

Said vigilante never flinched during the chief's entire tirade. In fact, a growl that sent shivers rolling down his spine emanated from the man. Even Chief Keith had to take a step back when Soldier 76 leaned forward, his form completely towering over the pudgy officer's own.

"If you didn't notice, there aren't any roars coming from King's Row anymore," the vigilante said in a dangerously low tone. " _We_ "- He swept his arm to Tracer and the omnic- "helped with that. And your army hasn't even arrived yet. We also brought a little girl back to her parents when your fat ass wasn't here to yell at my face yet. So what gives you the right to take us in when you and your buddies haven't done anything at all until now?"

Officer Keith didn't answer back, which was first to Mark. _This guy definitely shouldn't be messed with._

"No answer?" Soldier 76 pulled back, but his crimson red visor stayed trained on the chief. "Then you better damn leave us alone, punk."

The vigilante turned and stomped into the dropship, followed by the omnic and an amused-looking Tracer. Moments after the ramp closed, the aircraft rose to the air and flew off, leaving a cloud of dirt in its wake.

Mark covered his mouth to avoid having to cough. Meanwhile, Chief Keith remained still- just as he was when Soldier 76 began his rant.

ooOoo

 **Atlas News**

LIVE

It's 5:30AM, and the army has finally arrived to take stock of the situation. Most of the once missing people have made their own way out of King's Row, and have been appropriately examined by the medical team.

However, that isn't the biggest piece of news we have in our grasp- an unregistered dropship had landed on the scene around half an hour again, which held two of the most infamous individuals talked about in the media- Tracer; a former Overwatch agent suspected with murder, and Soldier 76; a man who began invading work-renown military bases just after the fall of Overwatch. There was also a humanoid-looking omnic that we have no clue whose identity is.

Alexandra Clark, one of the previously missing people, was said to be in their custody before she was released to her family. Soon after, the two criminals and one unknown figure fled the area. Police were unable to track their destinations up until now.

There has been speculation of their involvement with the recent dragon attack, and most conclude with them as helping with said act of terrorism. We interviewed Alexandra Clark, who was the one held "hostage" by these individuals, to see what she had to say;

"I don't think they're bad people," the little girl said with a smile, "Soldier 76 protected me the entire time I was lost, and all of them made the people in black go away."

The "people in black" she mentioned are currently being talked about by plenty of people. However, that will be delved upon in another moment of newscasting. Until we have more information, this is Anna Kellington of Atlas News. Have a good morning and stay safe, folks.

ooOoo

 _A week later..._

Jack sat on his bed, staring at the mirror sitting upon the desk against the wall a meter away. The room was dark, but light seeping past the curtains was enough to reveal his reflection's entirety.

He first looked at his close-cropped hair, a white shadow of its former radiance. A thought occurred to him that made a tiny smile grown on his face. _At least I don't have to worry about getting a bedhead_.

His eyes traveled down to his forehead, stopping at the beginnings of a pink scar. Slowly, he trailed down its length, which went over one of his blue eyes. It finally ended just below his lips, on the other side of his face.

Memories of where the scar came from surfaced, and he sighed. _It wasn't even during the fall of Overwatch- no, that was a slow and depressing process that began weeks ago. This was the clincher._

A small part of his mind told him that it was time to forget about that. He snorted. _Except I can't. It's too horrible a thing to not be reminded about every waking day._

 _Then it'll be harder on the way to becoming a hero again,_ the voice at the back of his head argued.

He froze. On the mirror, he saw the muscles on his arms rippling as his fists clenched. _Who said I'm trying to be a hero again?_

The face of Alexandra flashed through his mind, and he recalled the words he said to her. He sucked a breath, then released it in a sigh. One that sounded more like a growl.

He glanced at the alarm clock on the stand beside his bed. It was just about time for breakfast. _And I'd rather do that than drown in these damn thoughts._

He put on the usual; a black shirt overlaid by jacket-slash-vest and pants. He rose and began walking to the desk, ignoring the small sting of pain from his foot. _It's a good thing she's here, or else it would have took much longer to heal._

His mask lied on the desk's surface, its red visor staring at him impassively in its dull sheen. His hand was just hovering above it when he thought about going out without it.

He shook his head with a grunt. _If I ever considered that, then this isn't the day._

Now the visor glowed crimson, as it was on his face and he needed vision. He looked up at the mirror, and he saw the man that the world grew weary of for the past five years.

 _I ought to not think more about that._ He turned, then walked out of the room in silence. He didn't to turn off the lights, for it was already dark. An image of the being he encountered a week ago entered his mind, and he still couldn't help but shudder.

ooOoo

Breakfast was a dull event. Besides the others catching up with the recently re-recruited agent, nothing caught his interest.

Jack remembered how Yuan found it odd that he ate with the mask covering half his face, and the thought of not wearing it at all entered his mind. _Again, not happening for now._

He was in the mood for a jog, so when he emptied his plate put it on the counter he immediately left the cafeteria. _With no thugs around to knock in the head, it's a morning ritual at this point._

As he walked through a hallway, he found interest in a large board attached to the wall. When he saw what it was, he couldn't help but sigh.

Every watchpoint had a method of remembering Overwatch agents who had died in their service, and Gibraltar's was a large board stuck to the wall just on the way out of the cafeteria. Multiple plaques lined its surface, and in them the names of deceased Overwatch members shined in gold. Jack's eyes were drawn to the latest one, which Winston crafted to the best of his skill.

 **YUAN KUIZON, AGE 18**

 _In memory of his brief time in Overwatch, where he devoted the truest and best of his abilities._

"Commander Morrison!"

It was a voice that he had been recently reacquainting with, and he turned to face its owner, who seemed to have followed him from the cafeteria.

Her running came to a stop, and Angela Ziegler began to fix her white coat with a huff. Once she was done, her eyes went up to meet his, and a frown came to be in her angelic features.

" _Wirklich, Kommandant_." She shook her head in an exasperated manner. "Ever since I've come back, I've been seeing you escape the cafeteria after every meal you finish. What's with that, hm?"

He made to chuckle, but it never came out. Instead, he shook his head. "I'm just an old man who's excited for jogging and the shooting range most of the time. And I'm not the commander anymore."

"I would not recommend that you jog in your age, but I feel that there's nothing else for you to do in this place." She took a few steps forward, closing the distance until the board faced both of their bodies. Her lips quirked up in a smile. "I could feel the same, actually. There's nothing much to do when you're the head of a department that has no personnel."

He hummed, but it came as more of a rumbling from the throat than anything. Angela turned to the board, her eyes narrowing upon training on Yuan's plaque.

"So what's the story on this _junge_?" she asked. "Besides Lena's selfie with him, I've not seen nor heard much of the man. He's a bit too young to serve an organization like Overwatch, don't you think?"

"He was a fine warrior, actually," he responded immediately. More of the boy's strange background came to him, and he felt odd to speak it out loud. "He's... out of this world."

Angela raised a brow. "Oh?"

He pursed his lips, and he was thankful that she couldn't see through the mask. _I must look ridiculous_. "Literally. Like, he's not from this world."

"Oh." Her eyes flitted to the ceiling, and she puckered her lips, as if in thought. "Winston's still odder."

He smiled. Another thing Angela couldn't see. "Whatever you say."

She nodded, and he spotted the twinkle in her eyes. He remembered that- she usually adopted that when she was doing or had ideas about big projects. _It's most likely that she's just going to drill me with questions._

"What was he like?" Angela asked, her head tilted in a questioning manner.

For some strange reason, it was their talk in the training room that came to his mind. He sucked a breath and resisted the urge to look down. "He was a good man."

Immediately the twinkle in her eye was gone, and Angela stepped forward with a frown on her face. "Jack? Are you okay?"

"Don't call me Jack," he immediately spat out. He cursed himself for that practiced reflex, and this time his visor did train on the ground.

Shoes stepped into his vision, and he looked up to see that Angela had closed the distance between them. She leaned forward as she looked him over, as if scanning for any injuries. All the while, a deep frown marred her features. _Something like that shouldn't be on her._

He sighed and pressed two fingers against his temples. "To answer your question- no, I'm not."

She huffed and crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing at him. "Well, then. What's wrong?"

Silence dominated the hallway. He bit his lip as his mind raced with thoughts. _What should I say to her?_

His mouth answered without thinking; "Do you think I'm still wanted?"

Angela leaned back, as if the question was a hook from left field. "What?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his head. _I can't get out of this now, can I?_

"I mean... Jack Morrison," he said slowly, such as how his mind was moving- processing words like it couldn't believe it was. "Would it really matter if he came back to the world? Isn't it fine that he just stays a man that had been put down, and is actually under that gravestone honoring him?"

The words coming out of his mouth could've made him fall over in shock, yet an unknown source of willpower kept him standing.

Angela looked at him for a few seconds, her face completely devoid of emotion. It was like she was in a completely different world.

Then her features softened; her brows, her eyes, her mouth- everything about her. She now appeared to be someone that entirely generates sympathy.

"Jack," she said. He flinched at the softness of her tone, like she was actually speaking to the man. She sighed and shook her head. "Soldier 76. It's not a matter of desire, but of what is necessary."

He remained silent, opting to continue staring at her. Angela appeared entirely comfortable with that, judging by her smile.

"Personally, I think you've let too much of that former glory into your head." She giggled. Then she laid a hand on his shoulder. "It depends if you want to feel like the man who's served Overwatch for decades. What matters is that you continue your duty to serve the people in the best way you can.

"And..." She gave him a smile that was brighter than her previous ones. "I also personally think that you're still a hero. As long as you seek justice like Jack Morrison, I won't think of you much differently from the man I worked with years ago."

His mind froze at the information she told him- or rather, it began to work at a pace similar to how a snail moved. He could literally feel the cogs attempting to turn, and he could just get a migraine from it all.

But he didn't. There was a light at the end of the tunnel; a hope that he could still be hailed as the hero he was previous. That, despite his old age, he could still be Jack Morrison- not the leader, but the staunch and loyal supporter of Overwatch.

Again, his talk with Yuan in the training room flashed through his mind. _Looks like the kid really knew his stuff, after all._

His train of thought ended with Angela's voice snapped him back to reality; " _Hallo_? You there?"

He shook his head to clear his mind, and he took amusement in the fact that Angela almost jumped back. "Er... Wow."

She giggled. "Indeed. How are you, Soldier 76?"

He found some ice still thawing on his brain, and he shook his head some more to get rid of it. "Still reeling from that speech you gave. I guess it could be called incredible."

She grinned and puffed her chest out. "I'd have to have good ones when it comes to delving in psychiatric discussions with my patients."

He grinned in reply, and it was a second later that he realized she wouldn't be able to see it. _Maybe one day, I can walk amongst friends without having to wear this mask_.

He nodded to her, hoping it was a good enough response. She smiled, an action that stirred a warm feeling within him and probably many others. "So now, Soldier. How are you feeling?"

He chuckled. "A lot better now. Thanks, Doc."

 _Maybe with enough work_... he thought to himself. _Even if I'm an old man, I could still be the hero I used to be._

ooOoo

"Ah, Master Hand. Nice morning."

"Hello to you as well, Yuan. I suppose you're wondering why I called you here today."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it's about that world I got in. We really hadn't talked about it much yesterday; after all, I was riding a robot dragon when I came back to this universe."

"Thank Nintendo we took care of that. Now, let's talk about the inhabitants you interacted with."

"Oh, I didn't change anything much. There was this group I was with for a while- I can tell that they're still going strong without me."

"And why is that?"

"Well, I met this guy. He had some problems, but I knew he could be greater if he overcame them. So it's safe to say I left them in the right hands..."

 **FIN**

ooOoo

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well, it's finally the end of the road for this story. I really appreciate that you put effort into finishing this read; it's been real enjoyable for me.**

 **I'd like to give a shout out to some people and objects for helping me throughout the journey of making this story;**

 **My younger sister, for being an indirect proofreader-slash-editor for chapters 1-8. You were really a big factor when it came to encouraging me to continue this, as it got you to be more interested in the world of Overwatch. This made me happy, as I love to show new and interesting things to people.**

 ***She actually has an account here. AKUltiWarrior, and her story "Poison Rain" isn't exactly canon with how I imagine me and my sister's adventures with the Smashers are. (In case you wanted to know, lol)**

 **My bed, for supporting me (literally, and I'm heavy) during this entire time. My ass isn't the greatest around, so I commend you for holding it up, you lovely bastard.**

 **My school's library, for offering a quiet and peaceful area to write some bits of this story. The staff who work there have mixed reactions to my using a cellphone during school hours, but I'll give them an acknowledgement as well.**

 **Those who offered reviews, for reminding me that real people are reading my story. You really drilled it into me that I've got some people to please, and I can safely say that I delivered.**

 **And last but not the least, to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You have given me the God-given talents to be encouraged to write this, and for that I appreciate You. And let's throw in my mum because genes.**

 **This is the first fanfic I've published online, and I plan for this to not be the last. Let's pray I get more material to write about, yeah?**

 **As always, criticism (not flames) is appreciated. MrEpic3000 out.**


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